Good and Evil -Remake In Process-
by B1gby
Summary: AU:A world where Ruby does not become a huntress in training, but instead is the one being hunted.
1. Chapter 1 Remake

**Alright, guys so here is the first chapter of the remake I've been working on. This remake combines chapters 1-3 of the original story which have been removed as well as the prologue as I want people to read this first instead. For new readers, I know it says there are more chapters, but I'm currently in the process of rewriting and combining chapters so some parts may not make sense.**

* * *

_**Ch. 1 Remake**_

_**'Nobody will miss them'**_

*Beep*

*Beep*

"...Hm..."

*Beep*

*Beep*

"...Hmmm..*Click*.."

*Beep*

*Beep*

"...Stupid alarm shut up already *Click*."

*Beep!*

*Beep!*

"UGH! *Smash*."

*Silence*

"That's better..."

*Door Opens*

"Ruby, wake up already!"

"...Five more minutes..."

"Don't you five minute me now come on get up!"

"Wha! Yang stop I'm gonna fal-"

*Thud*

"Owww! Yang, that hurt!"

"If you don't want me to drag you out of bed, then get up yourself now hurry up and get dressed mom has breakfast ready!"

"Fiiiiiiinnnneeeee"

"And clean your room geez it's so dusty in here," Her sister said, wiping off the dust that had fallen on her when she pulled Ruby out of bed.

With an annoyed huff, she picks herself off the floor, making her way towards the bathroom to brush her teeth. Washing her hands thoroughly after she finished, Ruby began combing her hair to get rid of the nasty bed hair that was present. It didn't take much time seeing as her hair was short, only reaching her shoulder much like her mother. Satisfied with her hair, she moved to her dresser to pick her outfit for the day.

"Okay, let's see hmm how about this shirt *Sniff* ugh I really need to wash this okay how about this one *Sniff* alright this smells decent, and it's black too it'll go with these blue jeans that don't look to dirty," nodding at her choice she began changing when her bedroom door opened and a young man with raven-colored hair stepped in partially.

"What's taking you so long, kiddo? Breakfast is gonna get cold," panicked that she was being seen in a not so decent appearance Ruby grabbed her blanket covering herself.

"Uncle Qrow! Don't you know your suppose to knock before entering a young lady's room!" she scolded the young man who didn't seem phased. He looked around her room before smirking at her, "What young lady?"

"Get Out!" Throwing the first thing she could get her hands-on, she expected to hit him square in the face only for him to close the door in time.

"When you find this 'young lady' bring her down for breakfast so I can meet her," with a cocky laugh, her Uncle left, leaving an annoyed Ruby to finish changing and pick up her destroyed alarm clock that was near the door.

"Geez, Uncle Qrow, you're so mean!" punching him as she sat down next to him at the dinner table.

With a grin on his face, he ruffled her hair annoying her more, "I was only telling the truth, Kiddo, you're still too young to be called a lady your still like six years old, right?"

Smacking his hand away, she glared at her Uncle, "I'm ten years old!"

"Oh? Really? Are you sure? You don't look like you grew much you're still so short," Ruby pouted she hated when people called her short or anything involving her height.

"Qrow stop being such a bully," Qrow chuckled as Ruby's mother came to her rescue.

"I was only messin with her now, let's dig in, shall we?" clapping his hands excitedly, he reached for his utensils when Ruby's mother smacked on the hand.

"Ah ah ah not yet we still need to wait for Yang and Tai," crossing his arms, he began to groan in annoyance.

"Don't be such a baby Qrow," she scolded

"Where'd they go?" Ruby asked while eyeing her fluffy pancakes with strawberries on top.

"They went out to the backyard to spar since my little rose was busy trying to find this 'young lady.'"

"Mom! That's not funny!" shaking her arms angrily while she and Qrow both chuckled at the young redhead.

*Back door opens*

"Alright, we're back!" Ruby's older sister chirped with her dad following behind.

"How was your sparring?" her mother asked as she got up to kiss her husband on the cheek.

"It went fine aside from the fact that Yang tried to dropkick me a bunch of times," the young blond giggled as she took her seat next to her younger sister.

"Why are you practicing your dropkicks?" the younger sister asked.

"I saw on TV someone dropkick an Ursa and thought that was so kick-ass, and I wanted to be able to do it too!" Ruby and her Uncle shared her enthusiasm for dropkicking an Ursa while her parents scolded her not to swear.

"Now that we're all here let's dig in!" clapping his hands once more, he reached for his utensils only to be smacked on the hand again.

"What now?" he said with an irritated tone.

"Let Tai and the girls wash their hands first Qrow," with another annoyed huff he crossed his arms and glared at Tai to hurry up.

"Come on, girls, let's wash our hands before Uncle Qrow beats us up," Tai joked as he walked to the sink.

"Kay!" the young blood stood up and followed, but the other stayed seated.

"But my hands aren't even dirty! I washed them after I brushed my teeth!" Ruby protested, waving her hands at her mother.

"Ruby, your hands have dust on them," her father pointed out.

"Yea, Sis, look at them."

"Wha! No way!" looking at her hands, expecting them to be wrong only to see they were right. There were specs of reddish dust on her palms aswell on the tips of her fingers.

"Hehe, some lady you are can't even wash your hands properly," her Uncle joked, annoying and embarrassing her.

"S-shut up!" she yelled, pelting her Uncle with her tiny fists in a cartoonish way.

"Ruby Rose, that's enough," her mother said in a serious tone.

"Bu-"

"No buts young lady, you know you can't eat with dirty hands now go wash them," not wanting to argue she stood up and stomped her way to the sink sticking her tongue out at her Uncle who was still snickering.

"You need to stop playing in the dirt, Rubes," her sister teased.

"But I'm not! I didn't even go outside yesterday!" she argued

"Then, where did the dirt come from?"

"That's what I want to know!" her sister rolled her eyes.

"Then how do you explain all the dust in your room?"

"What dust?"

"You seriously didn't notice all the dust in your room when you woke up?" I was practically suffocating in there its even the same color as your hair see."

"Your lying! I just cleaned my room yesterday; it should have been spotless!" she countered.

"Surrreeee you did," her sister said, sarcastically leaving a pouting Ruby. She wasn't lying; Ruby really did clean her room yesterday. One could argue on her definition of spotless, but it should have at least been dust-free. So, where did this reddish dust come from? Looking at her hands again, she noticed there was a faint glow on some of the dust on Ruby's finger. Out of curiosity, she licked her finger, expecting to taste dirt only to be surprised that it tasted completely different. It was sweet and sugary, almost like candy. Ruby also felt something like a small jolt of energy. The strange jolt left as fast as it came leaving Ruby puzzled at what she felt. Seeing there was still some glowing dust left on her finger, she was about to lick it again.

"Ewww Rubes, are you licking the dust off your finger!" Her older sister's sudden outburst startled the young girl.

"I-I was just checking to see if it actually was dust l-like what if it was just sugar from those sugar canes Uncle Qrow bought us!" she said, quickly waving her hands.

"Annnnndddd? Was it sugar?"

"W-well, it tasted sweet, so uh, maybe?" she said meekly.

"Let me see," grabbing Ruby's hand; she licked her finger that had some glowing dust left.

"Blegh! This is disgusting!" she cried out, spitting out the dust she licked.

"Yang! if your gonna spit do it in the sink, not on the kitchen floor," her father scolded.

"Blegh! Ruby, you tricked me you said it tasted sweet!"

"I said maybe it tasted sweet," she corrected, earning a glare from her sister.

After washing there hands, they and returned to there seats.

"Alright, now let's dig in!" clapping his hands once more, he reached for some toast.

"Ah ah, a-" Ruby's mother attempted to smack his hand once more only this time he wasn't taking no for an answer, grabbing it and shoving it in his mouth.

"You only get two Summer," he said with a smirk getting a frown from her. She was about to scold him when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Now now, honey Qrow's been waiting the longest to eat."

"*Sigh* Fine, you get a pass this time Qrow."

"Thanf Jew," he said between chews making the two young girls giggle.

"Thanks for breakfast, Mom!" both girls said in unison, putting their plates in the sink.

"Your welcome now go get your stuff for school," both nodded, dashing off to there rooms for there backpacks. Entering her room, Ruby pulled her backpack from the closet.

"Alright, homework check pencils and pens check comic books to read during boring classes double check!" slinging her backpack on her back. Ruby was about to leave when she remembered something her sister said.

**_'You seriously didn't notice all the dust in your room when you woke up?'_**

Scanning her room, Ruby noticed there was dust sprinkled everywhere the same reddish dust that was on her palms and fingers.

"Where did all this dust come from? I know I cleaned yesterday, hmmm," trying to recall if there was an instance where dust or dirt may have been involved yesterday but was drawing blanks. Crouching down, Ruby slid a finger across the floor, smudging some of the dust on her finger. It was dim, but the dust was glowing as it did before. Not thinking twice, she licked the dust off her finger again. It tasted the same as before sweet and surgery, followed by the same jolt of energy that came and went.

"Yang said it tasted nasty, but it's so sweet does it maybe taste differently for other people?" Ruby was about to slide her finger for more till her sister banged on her door

"Ruby, hurry up or where gonna be late for school!"

"C-coming!" deciding she'd worry about this later, she left her room heading downstairs.

"Do you girls have everything?" her father asked.

"Yup!" Yang said with confidence.

"I think I do!" Ruby said with slightly less confidence getting a sigh from her father.

"I guess that'll have to do," opening the front door, he gestured his daughters that it was time to go.

"Bye, Mom!" they both said while waving goodbye.

"Bye have fun at school, you two," she said warmly, waving goodbye aswell.

"Don't forget this kiddo!" her Uncle waved a red hoodie at the young redhead.

"My sweater!" Ruby dashed towards her Uncle, grabbing it and putting it on. It was her favorite hoodie that was red as her hair with a rose emblem on the back.

"Wouldn't want our 'lady' to freeze to death now, do we?" flashing another smirk.

"You're not gonna stop this anytime soon, are you?" she asked with a frown on her face.

"Nooopppppeeee," with a chuckle, he ruffled her hair.

"Now get going, or you'll be late," giving her Uncle a reluctant hug she left.

As they walked, her sister and dad made small talk about there plans in the afternoon while Ruby pondered where the dust came from. It wasn't ordinary dust, that's for sure. The only thing she could think of would be the dust Huntsman used for there weapons, which would explain why it was glowing — seeing as her parents and Uncle where Veteran Huntsmen and Huntress that would go on missions every now on then they always carried dust with them.

'Could one of them maybe have dropped some in my room by accident?'

'No, that can't be it; everyone always puts there dust away before they come inside, so this doesn't happen.' Her next thought was maybe her sister may have swiped some in secret to practice using it, which happened quite often. 'If that's the case, the dust would be in Yang's room, not mine.' she was so deep in thought that she didn't notice her sister warning her about the pole she was about to hit.

*Crash*

*Thud*

"Owwwww," cringing in pain, she rubbed her forehead that had gotten bruised from hitting the pole.

"I told ya to watch out for the pole Rubes," her sister offered a hand to help her up.

"S-sorry I was lost in thought," taking her hand, she stood back up.

"What's on your mind, Ruby?' her father asked a little curious since it was uncharacteristic for Ruby to have been so quiet as they walked to school.

"Well, I just trying to figure where'd the dust on my hands came from."

'I thought we'd agreed that it came from you rolling around in the dirt," her sister quipped.

"No, we didn't agree that's just what you assumed," she argued.

"Well, I'm right, aren't I?"

"No! This isn't even regular dust you'd find outside!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I looked closer at the dust, and it was glowing-" before she could continue, her dad put a hand on her shoulder.

"Ruby, have you been swiping dust from the storage shed again?"

"N-no, I haven't gotten any since Yang got caught by mom," shaking her head and arms in denial.

"*Sigh* you girls need to stop getting your hands on this stuff it's hazardous you could potentially hurt yourself," lecturing them as they walked.

"Wait! Does that mean the stuff I licked off your finger was dust like the special dust that people use for just about everything?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so why?"

"Ruby! that stuff is deadly if you ingest it!"

"What!" both beginning to panic as they scanned each other's face for any symptoms.

*Bonk*

*Bonk*

"Calm down, you two, you'll be fine."

"B-but, Dad! I heard that if you ingest dust, you'd explode!" Ruby then recalled when she licked the dust, she felt the jolt of energy, and her face went white.

"D-dad am I gonna explode?" her voice laced with worry.

"Yang stop scaring your sister and no Ruby your not gonna explode."

"How can you be so sure?"

"You said it was glowing faintly, right?"

"yeah"

"Then it was probably diluted dust the worst thing that happens if you drink that is you'd vomit even then you'd have to drink a whole vial's worth of it for it even to affect you," hearing there father's explanation eased there worries.

"Phew, that was close, Ruby, you need to be more careful!"

"Hey! I didn't ask you to lick my finger!"

"I only licked it because you said it tasted like candy!"

"Alright, that's enough, you two; we don't wanna attract Grimm by shouting at each other, right?" both nodding apologizing to one another.

"Good now come on let's pick up the pace were falling behind."

They walked in silence for a bit till Ruby spoke up.

"So dad, if diluted dust makes you vomit, what do the other type of dust do?" her father signed knowing one of them would eventually ask this question he would prefer they didn't know since it wasn't a pleasant topic for kids, but knowing them they'd eventually find out probably from there Uncle Qrow.

"Well, raw dust would make you extremely sick some people have described it like their whole body was being burned from the inside sweating like crazy."

"Can you die?"

"If you don't receive proper medical treatment, yes, you can."

"For filtered dust, your stomach bursts along with some of your organs; it's not a pretty way to go."

"So, you basically blow up from the inside!"

"Hmm yeah, that's one way to describe it."

"Last is pure dust now; no one has ever tried to ingest this, but there are some theories at what would happen."

"Do you start glowing!"

"Do you get superpowers!"

"Are you able to fly!" both girls shooting their ideas quickly, not giving there dad time to reply.

"Haha, no, unfortunately, you don't get amazing abilities."

"Awwww, boooooo."

"Then what does happen?"

"Well, scientists have theorized that if ingested, you'd melt into goo."

"What!" both surprised not expecting this.

"Why would you melt?"

"Well, first, can either of you tell me what dust is?" both girls raised their hands as if they were in class.

"Alright, Yang, let's hear what you learned."

"It's the stuff we used to kick Grimm's ass!" her dad laughed at how confident she was.

"Close, but not quite what I was looking for, Ruby?"

"Dust is a crystallized form of natural energy that can be found throughout all of Remnant, because of its useful properties we use it for just about everything like generating electricity to power cities, fuel our ships and it's our greatest weapon against the Grimm," Ruby puffed her chest happy with her explanation while her sister murmured 'Know it all' under her breath.

"Correct good job Kiddo," as her father praised her and ruffled her hair, she shot a smug look at her sister, irritating the young blond.

"I'm Ruby Rose. I'm sooooooo smart. I know everything cuz I'm a smarty pants," feeling jealous and bitter Yang mocked her young sibling.

"Dad, Yang's being mean!"

"Now now no need to fight," both looked away with a huff.

"Okay, now where was I? Ah yeah, just as Ruby said, dust is a crystallized form of energy. When we ingest it, our stomach tries to absorb the energy; unfortunately, our bodies aren't compatible with this type of power. So it will try to get rid of it by either regurgitating or sweating it out, but this only applies to diluted and raw dust since the energy these holds are greatly diminished. For filtered and pure dust that holds much more concentrated power, our bodies can't handle it, it's just too much, which is why, as Yang said, we explode from the inside, or we'd melt from all the excessive energy."

"Dang, that sounds ruff good thing you only had diluted dust on your hands, Rubes."

"Yeah, I'll say I don't think I'd like being a puddle of goo."

"Now, you girls have an idea why you should never eat it, and I hope you won't try it to see if I'm telling the truth."

"Don't worry; we won't!"

As they continued to make small talk, Ruby noticed something in the distance.

"Dad were here!" Ruby pointed at her school that was slowing appearing on the horizon.

"Hmm? Looks like we are, and we didn't run into Grimm. That's a good sign."

"Even if we did, I'm sure we can take them, right dad!" Yang pumped her fist in the air, confident with her response.

"Easy there kiddo, you may have unlocked your semblance, but that doesn't mean you're ready to fight Grimm just yet."

"Awwww, but why? I already know how to cloak my body in aura to protect myself, and I'm already super strong nobody in school can beat me!" her father laughed as the young blond flexed, showing her childlike muscles.

"You definitely are strong, Yang."

"Super strong!" she corrected

"Haha, yes, super strong, but being able to beat a person is different from being able to beat a Grimm."

"How so?"

"Well, for starters, when you miss a dropkick on an Ursa, it isn't going to let you get back up just because you called time out," he explained.

"That's why I'm practicing! So when the time comes, I won't miss like I did earlier during our practice session in the morning!"

"Which reminds me where are we training today?"

"Your school's gym, I got permission to use it after classes are over."

"Sweet! That way, we don't have to worry about destroying mom's stuff again."

"Yeah you can say that again she was pretty angry when she saw what we did," her father scratched his chin recalling when he and Yang were so engrossed in there usual training sessions that they didn't notice their brawl had spilled to Summer's garden destroying it earning them both a scolding and no supper.

Finally, arriving at the gates of there school Patch Unified School District the two girls tried to dash in quickly, but their father stopped them. Their father crouched down and spread his arms wide.

"Alright, you two, you know the drill," The sister's sighed. They looked around to make sure no one they knew was watching them then dived into there father's arms.

"That's my girls alright good luck at school today," Yang was the first to break free from her father's goodbye hug and dashed inside excited to tell her friends she would be training in the gym after school. Ruby lingered a bit, waiting for her sister to be out of ear distance before asking her father something.

"H-hey Dad, do you think that maybe I could join you guys for combat training?" she asked meekly.

Her father knew this question was coming when he mentioned that they would be training at the gym today. Still, it didn't make it any easier for him. He placed an arm on her shoulder, speaking in a soft voice.

"...Sorry sweetie, but you still haven't unlocked your semblance yet you'd only end up getting hurt," Ruby's face saddened. She knew this would be his answer; it always was.

"Hey, hey, don't look so sad Ruby I'm sure your semblance is bound to awaken anytime now you just have to be patient," Ruby nodded, but wouldn't meet her father's eyes. Before he could say something else to comfort her, the school's bell rung, prompting the young girl to dash inside running to her first class of the day.

Ruby sighed gloomily as she sat down at her desk. She couldn't count how many times her father refused to allow Ruby to train with them, because of her lack of semblance. She hated hearing the same thing over and over. Still, her father was right. If an average person tried to train with a semblance user, they'd most definitely get injured. The reason being is when a person awakens there semblance, they also begin to generate an aura. This aura they produce enhances all of the body's physical attributes, making them faster, stronger, and more durable. Which sounds incredible, but this also meant they become a danger to ordinary people. If a user who hasn't been taught how to control their newfound strength were to fight an average person, they could possibly kill them. Now Ruby was confident her father wouldn't accidentally punch her into the afterlife. He was a veteran Huntsman with 20 years of experience, after all. Yang, on the other hand, was not. Even though Yang has been training for about 2 years now since unlocking her semblance, she still hasn't quite gotten a firm grasp on her strength. Combine this with the fact that Yang's semblance is the ability to create and manipulate fire, which she has also yet to fully control as well. It was the perfect recipe for disaster. Being punched to death would be the least of her worries. She was pulled out of her self-loathing hearing the teacher clap her hands to gain everyone's attention.

"Alright, everyone take out your composition books were going to do our morning vocabulary," rummaging of backs packs could be heard as the students pulled out their composition book with a pencil or pen. The teacher scanned to make sure everyone was ready before starting the lesson, and of course, she spotted someone who wasn't prepared.

"Mark, where is your composition book?" the teacher giving the young boy a stern look with her arms crossed.

"Sorry, teach I forgot it at home," he said with a cheeky grin on his face.

The teacher rolled her eyes, not believing him, after all, he was the school's biggest trouble maker. The teacher, not wanting to waste valuable time on lecturing him, gestured toward his neighbor sitting next to him.

"Ruby can you please lend Mark a few sheets of paper-"

"And a pen!" the teacher facepalmed at how unprepared he was while he snickered.

"And a pen so Mark can do his work," with a quick nod, Ruby tore a few sheets of paper from her notebook and grabbed the ugliest pen she could find and handed it to him.

"Thank's stumpy!" She frowned as he took the supplies.

"Okay, everyone, same as always. I'm going to write down a series of words on the board, and I want you to write them down along with the definition and use it in a sentence. Any questions? Good begin," as Ruby began her assignment, she heard paper being torn from her neighbor but ignored it since it was probably Mark messing around not wanting to do his work.

*Scribble*

*Scribble*

*Spit*

"Ewwww," Ruby winced in disgust as she wiped a spitball that hit her on the cheek.

"Hehe headshot," he giggled as he loaded another torn piece of paper into the tube from the pen he got from Ruby. Before Mark could shoot another one at her, Ruby raised her hand.

"Ms. Henderson! Mark is shooting spitballs at me!" the teacher stood up from her desk, walking towards them with an annoyed expression.

"Mark! What did I tell you about shooting spitballs in class!" Mark shrugged his shoulders, feigning ignorance irritating the teacher even more.

"That's detention for you for the whole week, young man!" with an annoyed huff Mark dug, his hands in his pockets, sending Ruby glares every now and then as the class progressed.

"Alright, that'll be all for today remember we have a test on Friday so be sure to do your review it'll help you," with that teacher gathered her stuff and left. Ruby was about to do the same when a sudden burst of wind sent her supplies flying across the room, startling the whole class except for Ruby.

"Whata hell's wrong with you!" she yelled at Mark, who was laughing at what he did.

"That's what you get for being a damn snitch!" he shouted back.

"You could of hurt someone with your semblance!"

"Pfft HA! I'm not a loose cannon like your sister I've already mastered my semblance I'm practically a Huntsman already!" he boasted.

"No, your not! It takes lots of training before you can become a Huntsman!

"Says who? Your mediocre Huntsman of a dad or your alcoholic Uncle?" slamming her hands on the desk, Ruby stood up, giving him an angry glare before shouting.

"Don't insult my family!"

"Oh? What are you gonna do about it?" Ruby, not being baited, started walking towards the door to inform the teacher.

"Where do you think you're going!" a gust of wind appearing under Ruby, raising her into the air.

"P-put me down, Mark!" she yelled, wiggling her arms and legs, trying to break free of the wind that was suspending her.

"Make me, oh wait, you can't, you don't have a semblance!" twirling his fingers, the wind around Ruby began to spin her.

"S-stop it!" Ruby cried out, trying to grab onto something to stop herself from spinning. Mark just laughed Ruby's pleas where like music to his ears. The young girl began to feel sick as she kept turning. If this kept going, her breakfast would make an appearance.

Mark, please stop!" Mark grinned, noticing Ruby's face becoming pale, increased the speed she spun. Ruby started to feel her stomach turn violently she was reaching the point of no return any longer; she would show her classmates what she ate for breakfast.

"What's going on here!" a teacher walked in, hearing the commotion from outside, but was a second too late as Mark switched off his semblance, sitting back down on his chair playing the innocent bystander. While Ruby nosedived onto the cold tiled floor.

"Oh, just Ruby slipping and faceplanting on the ground, it was pretty hilarious," the teacher eyed Mark, not believing him but didn't have time to question him as the teacher dashed to check on the poor girl who was pinching her nose to stop it from bleeding.

"Hey, you alright, Ruby?" she wasn't able to answer as her head was still spinning along with her stomach. The teacher helped her up and took her to the nurse's office as Mark watched with a smile satisfied with what he had done.

"Here's some water and tissues."

"Thank...you," taking the items the nurse handed her, she went inside the bathroom to clean herself up.

*Click*

Locking the bathroom door so no one would walk in on her, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her nose was red-colored and slightly swollen with blood dripping out of it.

"Asshole," she murmured, wiping away the blood with tissues. Aside from being the worst trouble maker, Mark was also the biggest bully in the entire school who also happened to have a semblance, which made Ruby loathe him. After all, Ruby was raised to believe that one's semblance was to be used to protect others, not injure and harass them. This resulted in conflict between the two as Ruby wouldn't stand idly when Mark misused his semblance, unlike everyone else who turned a blind eye out of fear. But today was different from there previous confrontations. He'd usually just blow away her stuff then walk away and ditch school for the rest of the day. Mark had never used his powers to such an extent that he would lift her off the ground, and it frightened her. He was getting more adept at controlling his abilities; it wouldn't be long till his harassments escalated to something worse. She needed to tell the teacher what had happened. Splashing water on her face to clean the last of the blood, she turned to leave the bathroom but stopped short, hearing voices on the other end.

"Damn, that kid is such a pain in the ass."

"What he'd do this time?"

"I don't know I went back to figure out what happened, but everyone is too afraid to say," Ruby felt disappointed in her classmates she knew they where cowards, but still hoped that at least one of them would have said something.

"I don't blame them. It's hard for kids there age to stand up to a bully, especially one that has a semblance."

"Yeah, I know, but I know Ruby will tell me she's not afraid of him, and once she tells, I'll report it to the principal."

"But what's the point? He'll just get suspended for a day or two, then come back; its what always happens."

"No, not this time, I know for a fact Mark abused his semblance and injured Ruby, and when she confirms it, we'll have the evidence we need to expel him."

"That's good. I'm sure everyone would be relieved to see Mark gone." Ruby couldn't help but smile. Mark would finally be kicked out of school; all she had to do is tell the teacher what happened.

"But wait, it gets better with proof that semblance students are injuring regular students; we'll be to push for a non-semblance user policy."

"Non-semblance policy?"

"Basically, if our school adopts this policy, we'll be able to refuse semblance users to enroll in our school."

"What about the ones already enrolled?"

"They'll be forced to transfer to another school."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, I know Mark won't be missed, but other users like Ruby's older sister Yang she's a kind and upstanding person. I don't know if it be right to just kick them all out because we had one lousy user."

"...Yeah, I know she's a good kid, but a majority of the teachers here aren't trained on how to deal with young semblance users. Like for example, if Yang _happened_ to lose control of her semblance and started lighting stuff on fire, would you know what to do?"

"...No, I wouldn't know what to do."

"See, that's what I mean our staff is severely undertrained and unequipped to handle these situations. I know it sounds like we want to get rid of them, but this is for the best young semblance users need to attend a school that's adequately prepared for them, not some school that bearly has enough money to hire Huntsman to protect it from Grimm."

*Click*

*Door opening*

The nurse and teacher turned to see Ruby exiting the bathroom.

"Great, you're done," the teacher walked towards Ruby placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Ruby looked at the teacher hands curled up in a tight fist.

"...I-I...I tripped and fell..," the teacher looked flabbergasted, not believing what he was hearing.

"Ruby, I know that's not what happened. You can tell me. I can make sure Mark never does this ever again."

"N-no, Mark never had anything to do with what happened. I just kind of tripped trying to leave class."

"Then why was your stuff all the way on one side of the room and you on the other side?"

"...Because I dropped them when I...fell."

"Really? Because to me, it looked like someone through your stuff."

"N-no It was me when I fell I accidentally though my stuff hahaha I'm kinda a...klutz," putting on her best fakest smile and laugh as she lied. The teacher stared at her with a serious look he clearly didn't believe what she said, but there was nothing he could do if Ruby didn't want to tell the truth.

"Ruby, are you sure that's what happened?"

"...Yeah, that's what happened," Ruby's head dropped not looking the teacher in the eye she didn't even believe herself.

"..."

"..."

"Alright, go on back to class," Ruby walked past the teacher leaving the nurse's office.

"She's lying," the nurse spoke after Ruby was gone.

"Yea, I know the question is why? Ruby has always told us when Mark was misbehaving, so why to stop now?"

"Maybe she was scared."

"Maybe...I'll try asking her again tomorrow."

*Bang*

"You god damn coward," she insulted herself while banging her head on the wall. This wasn't fair for the young girl; if she wanted to have Mark expelled and be rid of him, she'd also be condemning her sister to a similar fate. The only other school, her sister, would be able to transfer to would be Signal Academy as it was the only school geared towards semblance users who strived to become huntsman and huntresses. Which sounds perfect if it wasn't located on the very bottom of the island they lived on. It would take two full days just to walk there. Her sister would be forced to move closer to the school so she could attend. Ruby was sure Yang wouldn't mind. However, Ruby did she wanted to attend the same school as her sister till they both graduated, and that wouldn't be possible if she transferred as it was a semblance user only school. That's why she lied.

When she finished sulking, she walked to the library, not really feeling like going to class and dealing with Mark again, who happened to be in almost all her courses. Opening the door slowly, she peeked inside to see to make sure no one was around. When the coast was clear, she went in. Ruby loved to read; it was her favorite way to pass the time. She even volunteered to work at the library so she could read all of the new books they get before anyone else. Walking down the aisle, she pulled a book off the shelf. Not wanting to sit down at a table since they were facing the window where people could see her. She opted to sit down where she was and opened her book titled**_ 'What is a Semblance.'_** It described semblance's as the manifestation of one's innate and personal power as an ability unique to each individual, with the effects varying greatly from user to user. The book then listed several semblances, with some being rather lame like just being able to increase the length of your nails at will and others being awesome like being able to fly. She flipped through the pages telling of semblance's history as that wasn't what she wanted to read right now, flipping through a few more pages till reaching her desired chapter. **_'Chapter 10- Unlocking One's Semblance' _**ever since Yang unlocked her semblance, Ruby has been rereading this chapter almost every day trying to do the same. This chapter, like how it was titled, described ways an individual had unlocked there semblance. The most common was exceeding one's physical limits, one example being someone had done 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and ran 10 KM every day. 'This person must be insanely strong. He could probably beat everything in one punch' is what she thought when she read this the first time. Other traditional methods were traumatic or life-threatening events that unlocked it. Which is how Yang awakened her semblance. When they were younger, Ruby and her sister would always go out and play in the forest. Their parents would always warn them not to go too deep as they could be attacked by Grimm, but being the rebellious girls they were, they didn't listen. Sure enough, one day, they were attacked by an Ursa, a type of Grimm like bear. Yang told her to run and get help while she fended it off. When Ruby returned with her parents, they found Yang passed out on the ground. Everything in a mile radius, including the Ursa, was burned to a crisp. As she recalled the memory, Ruby wondered that if she had stayed would've, she unlocked her semblance as well. Shaking her head as there was no way to change the past, she turned the page and kept on reading.

**_'Although everyone is born with a dormant semblance, not everyone has the potential to awaken it.' _**Ruby hated reading this part. It went on to say out of the entire population of Remnant only 20 percent would unlock there semblance. The 80 percent would live ordinary lives, never know what's it like to have a semblance. Ruby prayed she wasn't the majority. The next few paragraphs affirmed that being born from parents that have unlocked semblances increased the child's chances as well, but it wasn't guaranteed. Which gave her hope, even if it wasn't a lot. She flipped the page reaching the last section before another chapter would start.

**_'Many had described that moments before there semblance awakened there chest felt light and warm. Then when it happened, they felt a great sense of euphoria as their body unleashed their unique aura with there semblance showing itself shortly after.'_**

Yang and her family can attest that this was almost spot-on on how they felt. Her Uncle claimed he didn't feel anything at all; it just sort of happened. From what he told her, her Uncle just woke up one morning and just felt really strong and energized it took him a while to realize his semblance had awakened. 'Lucky' is what Ruby thought. She grilled her Uncle for days trying to figure out if he did anything unusual the night before it awakened, hoping to reenact it, but unfortunately, her Uncle said there was nothing that stood out. Ruby moved on to the next chapter that just listed different careers that semblance users could work towards. The young girl didn't bother reading them as there was only one career that interested her once her semblance awakened. That was being a huntress. Ruby had romanticized being a huntress ever since she was 5 years old. She idolized them how they protected the world from the Grimm and arrested villains. They where bonafide superheroes in her mind. Hearing her parent's stories of when they where active huntsman and huntress only strengthened her desire to become one herself. Sadly her career choice was on ice till her semblance showed itself _if it showed itself._

"Darn it."

She buried her face in the book, feeling depressed again. Ruby stayed like this for several minutes, thinking of methods that would aid her. It wasn't until she felt her nose itch that she pulled away. Expecting to see a loose strand of hair as the cause, the young girl was surprised to see the same reddish dust as before. It was sprinkled on her nose and on the book she was reading.

"Wha?" checking her hands to see if she still had some on them.

"My hands are clean; there isn't a spec on them."

"Where did this dust come from?" patting down her person trying to locate the source of this mysterious dust.

"There's nothing in my front pockets nor my back pockets," Ruby finished patting herself down, still unable to find the source.

"Where haven't I checked?" as she pondered where this mysterious dust came from a strand of hair fell onto her nose, tickling it.

"Not now hair," blowing the strand away, she went back to thinking when it hit her.

"Wait, did I check my hair?" with one of her hands, she ruffled her hair a bit as she did reddish dust slowly trickled off.

"That's weird Uncle Qrow ruffled my hair in the morning, and nothing came off," she pulled her hand back and examined it.

"Yep same reddish dust and it's glowing too," noticing there was a small pocket of dust on her palms she licked it receiving the same taste and fleeting burst of energy.

"Yep still taste like sugar," as Ruby continued to lick the remains off her hand she failed to notice that someone had crept up on her.

*Flash*

The sudden flash startled the young redhead, immediately looking where the flash came from. Her heart sank when she saw who it was that caught her.

"Mark! What are you doing here!" she yelped face turning pale with every second.

With a devilish grin on his face, Mark spoke, "Well, I just came to read a book while I ditched class, but I never would have guessed I'd find you here licking dirt that came off your hair like some kind of freak."

Ruby shook her head and hands in denial while fumbling her words, "N-no I..I...I wasn't licking t-them I was I was smelling it? Yeah! I was smelling it! I was just trying to figure out what it was!?" Ruby shook her head and hands in denial while fumbling her words.

"Oh? Is that so," tapping on his scroll a few times, he turned it to show a video of Ruby licking the dust off her hands.

"Doesn't look like your just smelling it," his devilish grin growing wider. Ruby was at a loss for words as she watched the video loop showing her say it tasted like sugar then lick it. It was one thing for her sister to catch her, but someone like Mark catching her. It was beyond humiliating. Mark noticing the horrified look on Ruby's face snickered as he placed the scroll back into his pocket.

"What will everyone say when I show them this video, I wonder?"

"What!? Why would you show this to people!?" she shouted her heart, sinking deeper.

Mark smiled and crouched down, looking at her in eyes, "Why? Because I find it amusing how you always act like your better than me, but here you are ditching class licking dirt dust whatever off your hands like some kind of fucking freak. I'm gonna enjoy showing this to everyone," standing back up, Mark turned to walk away. But was stopped by Ruby pulling on his shirt.

Shaking out of horror and tears in her eyes, she managed to speak, "...P-please don't s-show this to e-everyone I beg you...," Mark stood still back facing her as Ruby pleaded. They stayed like this for what Ruby felt like was an eternity before Mark turned around with a face that said he was about to make her life a living hell.

"Afterschool me and you are gonna go on a nicccee romantic walk where we'll discuss what price your gonna have to pay got it?" Ruby could only nod. With that, Mark left, never looking back. Ruby felt her legs give in collapsing on the floor, howling, "GODDAMNIT!?" not caring if anyone heard her.

Everything up to the end of school was pretty much a blur to the young girl. Ruby knew she left the library. Yet, the young redhead couldn't recall what she did. All she knew is that school had ended and was going to meet up with Mark to find out what price she was going to _'Pay' _for him to keep quiet about the video. Making her way towards the school gates, she stopped when she heard her name being called.

"RUBY!?" turning to see her older sister running towards her.

"Where are you going? Don't you remember me and dad are going to train in the gym you should come and watch! Who knows, maybe he'll even let you train with us this time!" Yang attempted to pull her, but Ruby resisted.

"Sorry, Yang. I don't really feel so good right now, maybe next time..." Ruby's eye's drooped, not willing to see what face she was making. Before she could walk away, her sister pulled her into one of her tight warm hugs.

"Don't fret Ruby. I'm sure your semblance is going to awaken soon. I just know it! You just gotta be, patient!"

"..." Ruby really couldn't find the right words to say she knew her sister was trying to comfort her even if she was off at what was troubling the young redhead. After a few seconds, Yang slowly let go smiling at her sister.

"I'll tell you what Rubes. If dad isn't going to train you, I will!" she declared with confidence.

"Yang I don't thin-"

"Ah ah ah none of that I know I'm not that skilled, yet so we won't be able to spar, but I can at least show the type of workouts we do! Who knows, maybe a good workout is what you need!" Ruby could feel tears beginning to build on the corners of her eyes.

'I have the best sister in the world.' Ruby truly meant this even if she couldn't say it right now.

"...Thanks, Yang," her sister's smiled widened.

"Don't worry about it, Rubes, what are sisters for!" rustling her little sister's hair. Yang shifted and ran off, heading towards the gym where her father was waiting.

Seeing her sister disappear into the gym, Ruby took a few deep breaths before pivoting, heading towards the school gates once again. Stepping outside, she was greeted by the afternoon sun. Ruby looked around for Mark apart of her hoped he had forgotten and went home. However, unfortunately, he was still here waving at her in the distance to come crushing her wish. Every step she took towards him was filling her with dread. She had no idea what this _'price' _was going to be, but she was sure it wasn't going to be good.

"Look at that you didn't run away guess your not a coward and a freak just a freak," Ruby scowled at his insult. Mark didn't really care as he started walking with Ruby reluctantly following behind. They didn't walk very far since even Mark didn't want to risk running into a Grimm staying close, but just far enough where no one would bother them.

"Good, this spot should be fine. Alright, are you ready for your punishment, freak!" Ruby glared at him, not liking this already.

"Don't you mean price?" she corrected.

"Pfft same thing. Alright, lemme get the stuff out," Ruby watched him shuffle through his backpack pulling out...a pair of dog ears and tail?

"Here," handing her the ears and tail Ruby stared at him, waiting for an explanation.

"Well don't just stand there looking at me like a retard put them on!" Ruby growled at him. She wanted to ask why he had these in the first place but swallowed it. Slowly putting on the dog ears first, then clipping tail on the loop on the back of her jeans.

"What's the point of this, Mark?" she asked, irritated by the smirk he was giving her.

"I'm glad you asked! As you know, our small little island has no faunus! So I thought it be great if you could dress up and act like one!"

"Sooo, you just want me to dress and act like a faunus just for today?" not believing what she heard.

"Yup! that's all you gotta do!" he said with a smile on his face that had a sense of wickedness behind it.

"That doesn't seem too bad," if this was all she had to do, then it didn't sound like a bad deal.

"Glad you agree now I need you to put this on too," pulling black ring of sorts that had a rope attached to it he tossed it to her. Ruby took one look at the ring eyes widening, realizing what it was.

"Mark, this is a dogs collar!" she yelled

"Yeah, so?"

"Faunus, don't wear collars!"

"Ah, silly Ruby, normal Faunus, don't wear collars you're a freak, remember?"

"I'm not going to put on the collar!" throwing it, hitting Mark in the chest but didn't seem to mind.

"Awwww well guess I gotta show everyone the video good thing I got everyone's number today," Mark pulled out his scroll and tapped it a few times.

"Your bluffing, there's no way you got everyone's number!" Mark laughed as he turned the scroll to show her. The display showed everyone's name and picture from her class, all with numbers next to them.

"...How?.."

"It was easy while you were phasing out in class. I went around and _'kindly' _asked everyone for there number.

"So I'll ask you one more time, are you gonna put on the collar or not?" keeping his finger on the send button to add to the pressure. Ruby gritted her teeth and balled her hands into a tight fist. She hated this; Mark had the upper hand. There was no way out for her.

"...Fine, I'll put it on.," she said in the lowest voice she could muster.

Mark grinned and pointed at the collar at his feet, "Good come get it."

Ruby growled at him that's why he wasn't angry when he threw it at him. He was planning this from the beginning.

"Tick-tock," Mark quipped, inching his finger closer to the send button.

"Fine!" Ruby walked towards him crouched down, picking up the collar unbuckling it, then putting it around her kneck, buckling it back up.

"There! Happy!" she couldn't even look at him in the eyes. Ruby never felt so degraded.

"Yep! Now, let's go for a walk, shall we?"

"Wait wha- ACK!?," before Ruby could finish Mark yanked on the rope connected to her collar, making the girl fumble almost falling as she was pulled.

"Mark, Wait! You- Ugh!" every time he pulled the rope, the collar grew tighter around the young girl's neck, reducing her ability to breath properly. She tried to jam her fingers between her neck and the collar, but to no avail. Ruby next attempted to dig her heels into the dirt to help her resist being pulled, but that was a mistake with one heavy pull from Mark. The young girl was sent stumbling forward, losing her balance falling to the ground. She cringed slightly from her hands and knees, being scrapped by some jagged rocks. There was no time to recover from her fall as Mark continued to pull on the leash. Ruby found herself almost crawling on her hands and knees like an actual dog. She wanted to yell at him to stop again, yet the words wouldn't come out as the collar had started digging into her skin, squeezing her throat. At this point, her breathing was becoming weak and shallow from the lack of oxygen she was receiving. Ruby was starting to feel lightheaded as well; it wouldn't be long till she collapsed. Then for some reason, Mark stopped. Not letting this chance slipped past her, Ruby fiddled with the latch on the collar loosening it. However, she was unable to remove it as some dirt had wedged itself inside, jamming the lock from fulling opening.

"*Yawn* Man walking your dog is really tiring good thing I hired some dog walkers," Ruby jumped as Mark had said that quite loudly. Ruby was about to ignore him, but the last phrase caught her attention.

'Wait, did he say he hired dog walkers?' as if to answer her question, the bushes around her began to part revealing several boys hiding behind them.

'Oh no,' Ruby recognized them they where Mark's friends, each of them being just as bad as Mark even if they didn't have a semblance.

"Mark! What are they doing here?!" she barked, trying to hide the collar.

"What? Didn't you hear stupid I hired them as dog walkers," stepping back as he handed the leash to someone else.

"This was supposed to be between you and me!"

"Hm? I never said that" before Ruby could retort Mark's friend pulled on the leash dragging Ruby behind as they restarted there _walk. _Luckily this time, Ruby dug her fingers in to keep the collar from tightening on her throat again. Though this worked against her as Mark's friend started jogging, pulling on the leash dragging her along. Ruby was keeping up till someone stuck there foot out, tripping the young girl. As she only had one arm available, she wasn't able to adequately brace herself, falling onto her side. Everyone around her began laughing, taking pictures while they did.

"Awww she couldn't keep up," the boy with the leash laughing his ass off as Ruby spit out dirt she ate from her fall.

"Come on, hurry up and get up," another boy crouched next to her, poking her in the head.

"Yea, hurry up! It's my turn next!" one of them grabbed Ruby's arm forcibly pulling her off the ground.

"There now, st- Gah!" Ruby had finally had enough of this smashing the boys face with a rock she grabbed off the ground. Everyone dumbfounded, seeing their friend fall to the ground bleeding heavily from the face, but that was just the start Ruby wasn't stopping there. Before anyone could recover from there shock, Ruby tackled the boy holding the leash straight to the ground. Not missing a beat, Ruby began dropping blows onto the boy's face. She didn't know how powerful her hits were, seeing as she wasn't a fighter like her sister, but she didn't care. The only thing she cared about was inflicting as much pain as she could; nothing else mattered. This went on for a minute before Mark finally recovered.

"Get her off him!" he yelled, snapping his friends out of there daze. Ruby felt arms grab her from behind, pulling her off the boy who wasn't moving, only twitching spewing blood from the mouth. Ruby growled viciously, trying to break free from the boys holding her kicking them and headbutt one of them.

"Mark! This bitch lost it do something!"

"Alright, everyone, move!" following there leaders' orders, they pushed the enraged Ruby away. While Mark used his semblance to conjure a gust of wind, firing it at Ruby, sending the young girl flying back colliding with a tree. Ruby slowly slid down till her bottom touched the ground. She was down but not out. Ruby glared daggers at them as she menacingly stood back up. Ruby wasn't done, not till everyone paid for humiliating her starting with Mark. Dashing forward, trying to tackle him only to be hit by the same wind attack. She tried again and again only for the same thing to happen. Mark began laughing maniacally as he sent her flying back once more.

"Scream and run at me all you want I can do this all day!" Ruby growled, standing back up.

"Why does someone like you have a semblance!" slamming her fist on a tree as she yelled.

"Why? It's because I'm better than you!" rejecting his answer, she dashed at him again only to be sent back.

"Damn it! You don't deserve it!"

"Ha! Even if I didn't, there's nothing you can do your just a weak loser!" hitting Ruby with a stronger wind attack, she found herself being rag-dolled farther back. Groaning in pain, she was unable to get back up. The adrenaline that was pumping through her veins was growing weaker. Her body was reaching its limits.

"Damn it!" slamming her fist on the ground, cursing loudly.

'Why him? What did he do that I didn't?'

'I've done my best to be a good person, always doing the right thing. So why damn it does he have the right to have a semblance, and I don't!' digging her fingers into the ground, out of frustration and anger. Why was God so cruel to her? Did she do something horrible in a previous life that she was paying for it in this life? Or was he just playing a sick joke on her if so, then it's time to stop no one's laughing anymore. Then it dawned on her if God, the world, or whoever didn't want Ruby to have a semblance, then she'd find another source of power. A power that would be hers and hers alone. Her realization triggered something in her like the final cog started to spin starting something. Her heart suddenly felt like it was on fire; the sensation was unbearable. She found herself clenching her chest, screaming in agony. Mark and his friends froze as they heard Ruby scream in anguish, unable to understand what was happening. It then started to feel like something was being torn out of her like something deep within was being brought out.

Ruby began to feel nauseous, her stomach doing backflips on itself as if it was trying to escape. She barely managed to raise herself on her knees as she started vomiting violently. Yet, it wasn't her breakfast from the morning or her bodily fluids that came out. It was the same reddish dust that she had been finding all over herself except this time it was glowing radiantly as if it was supercharged. The reddish powder pooled in front of her. Ruby was horrified at how much was coming out of her. She wanted to stop, but whatever was inside of her, it wanted out. The dust was starting to decrease after a bit Ruby .was reaching the end and whatever was trying to leave her would show itself. Feeling a lump get stuck in her throat, Ruby wheezed and thumped on her chest, trying to get whatever it was out.

*COUGH!* with a forceful cough she shot out the object onto the pool of dust in front of her. Wheezing and coughing, she raised her head to see what the object was.

'A rose petal?' the object that was trying to make its way out of her was a rose petal, or at least it looked like one. It glowed brilliantly much more than the reddish dust she vomited out. Ruby reached out, attempting to grab it only for it to suddenly melt fusing with the powder. The dust abruptly began to radiate blinding the poor girl. She covered her eyes but peeked a bit to see what was happening. The dust started to levitate then swirl on itself. Bits and pieces began connecting, forming something. When it finally finished, Ruby stared in awe as a wolf with black and reddish fur that was the size of an Ursa stood there proudly and gracefully. It's glowing auburn eyes glared at Mark and his friends who were petrified, unable to move. The wolf then shifted it's gaze back to Ruby. It was weird when Ruby met the wolf's eyes. It felt like she was staring at herself; it was an odd feeling. The wolf continued to look at her like it was waiting for something, but what? Ruby turned to look at Mark, who was trembling in fear.

"Ah, so that's what you want," Ruby smiled. If this wolf came from her, then it must feel what she feels, and what she felt right now was paying Mark back for the humiliation she felt tenfold.

Pointing at Mark, she voice what the wolf wanted to hear," Get 'em!" letting out a threating roar, the wolf lunged at Mark and his friends, tearing them to shreds.

"Nobody will miss them," she whispered before blacking out from exhaustion and pain.

* * *

**I meant to have this up last week but the holidays had me drinking like crazy. Anyways I hoped you guys like the new scenes for the remake as I didn't want you guys to read the same thing. Don't worry the story will still follow the same path it'll just be tweaked a bit. The chapter 2 remake will be released mid to late January as I'm going to be going on vacation for Christmas. Hope to see you guys next year so uh Merry Christmas, Happy ****Hanukkah****, and happy new year. **


	2. Chapter 2 Remake

**So here's the chapter 2 remake I hope you guys like it. A lot of changes were made in the remake and all of the original chapters were removed as to not confuse new readers.**

* * *

**Ch. 2 Remake**

**-It wasn't my fault I was only defending myself-**

"...Mhmm...Ugh!..owowowow!..," Ruby's body ached in pain as she tried to stretch slowly waking up. When the pain subsided, she moved more carefully, rubbing her eyes to help with the dryness. She slowly opened them, letting her eyes adjust to the light, except it wasn't sunlight that she was adapting to just a single light bulb shining brightly above her. She groggily stood up from where she was laying careful not to strain herself again.

"Where am I?" she scanned around for an answer. Greyish cement walls surrounded her. She'd almost assumed there was no way out till she noticed a metal door in the corner of the room that wasn't illuminated very well. Aside from that and the makeshift bed she was sitting on, there was nothing else in the room.

"How did I get here?" changing her question, she scratched head, trying to remember what happened before this.

"...I met up with Mark after school, and he made me wear that stupid collar. He dragged me around, and then his friends got involved, then they dragged me around...then what happened?" as her memories slowly crept back, she started remembering what emotions she felt as they toyed with her.

Humiliated. Pathetic. Bitter. Powerless. Weak.

These emotions were dreadful, making the young girl clench her chest, wishing these feelings go away, but there was one more that overshadowed all others.

Rage.

As this one emotion gradually grew, more memories came flooding back. Ruby recalled, finally snapping and fighting back. Knocking out one of Mark's friends with a rock, she grabbed off the ground. This was all that was supposed to happen just her defending herself then running away that was the plan, yet when she saw him fall blood oozing from the wound she inflicted on him, Ruby felt something inside of her like something was let loose. Something primal and vicious, it fueled her to keep going to keep attacking to fight to make them bleed. The more she remembered, the more her body quivered as if it was trying to relive that moment. Her breathing was becoming heavy arms wrapped around herself. Ruby could feel her chest begin to heat up slowly. It got to the point where she was scared and afraid Ruby didn't know what was happening to her. She wanted this _feeling _to go away, but it just kept growing. Her chest began to glow and burn; it felt like Ruby was going to explode.

"Bark!"

"Gah!" something tackled the young girl knocking her back down onto the makeshift bed.

"*Intense licking*...hey..stop that..*Intense licking Continues*...I..mean..it..stop licking my face..," Ruby struggled to pull off whatever was licking every inch of her face. Every time she thought she had a firm grip, her assailant would slip right threw her fingers, continuing the assault. It was annoying for sure, yet with every lick, the burning sensation she was feeling in her chest died down steadily. After a while, Ruby started giggling, putting her arms up in defeat.

"Alright, you win!" satisfied with its victory, her assailant finally stopping its assault. Finally, able to open her eyes to see her mysterious attacker.

"Bark! Bark!" a small pup with reddish and black fur bounced around happily on her chest.

"Who might...you...be?" as the words left her mouth, the last of her memories returned.

"Ah, it's you," albeit smaller than before, it was the same aburn eyed wolf that was born from the rose petal that fused with the dust. The same wolf that shredded Mark and his friends apart. Ruby began to feel sick as she recalled the horrific scene. The screams and cries as they tried to escape only to be hunted down one by one by the wolf. She wanted to feel guilty, she really did, but every time the wolf '_caught_' one of them, she felt a sense of pleasure. This sense of satisfaction sickened her; even more, she could feel her stomach start to stir violently. Ruby rejected what she felt. This wasn't her; it all must be a bad dream. Yeah, just one big nightmare that she was going to wake up from once her alarm clock went off. Yet no matter how long she waited or closed and opened her eyes, she wasn't waking up. To add to her despair, she was still wearing the same clothes, except they where torn and ragged from when she tried to fight Mark. This was reality, not a dream or an illusion.

Ruby hastily stood up, ignoring the cries of the small wolf pup as it was pushed off her chest. She was going to vomit; this was all too much for the young girl. Ruby looked around for anything she could regurgitate in, but there was nothing. With no other options, the young girl picked a corner and let it all out. Just like before, Ruby vomited reddish dust instead of regular vomit. It pooled below her, although it was much less than the first time. When she finished, Ruby expected to vomit another rose petal, but it never came. Wiping her mouth with her sleeve, she sat down on the cold cement ground catching her breath. Ruby glanced towards the dust vomit, watching it glow softly. She was no fool; she knew people don't throw up glowing dust, but she didn't know how to explain this.

"Could this be my semblance?"

"No, it can't be I don't feel any different," none of the symptoms she read about when people first unlocked there semblance where present.

Aside from vomiting dust and a rose petal, she felt the same, not stronger nor weaker. Ruby was dragged out of her thoughts when the wolf pup barked as he neared the dust vomit.

"Hey, don't lick that!" before she could stop the young wolf, he began to glow surprising her.

"...Hey, what are you..?" as if answering her question, the pup began to absorb the dust vomit. It was a bit disgusting to her, but the puppy seemed to like it. Like if he received a treat of sorts. When it finished, it yipped happily dancing around in a circle before lying down next to her.

"Well, ah, thanks for cleaning that, but try not to do that again. It cant be good for you," the wolf pup barked as if he was saying okay to her.

"Do you have a name?" she asked while petting the pup behind the ears. The wolf tilted its head slightly and whimpered a bit.

"Ah, you don't have one. Would you like me to give you one?"

"Bark! Bark!" Ruby giggled as the wolf waited patiently for its name.

"Okay, how about Scooby?" the wolf shook its head, rejecting it.

"Whata bout Krypto?" again, the wolf shook its head.

"Scrappy?" this time, the wolf spit on the ground as if it was appalled to be named that.

"Geez, you could have just said no."

"Okay, ummmm, how bout Dogmeat?" the wolf didn't even bother answering, just turned around and started walking away from her.

"Ah! I'm sorry, terrible joke. I'll stop promise!" with a reluctant huff, the small wolf sat back down next to her. Ruby scratched her head, trying to think of a name for the wolf who was surprisingly very picky at what he wanted to be named.

"How bout Kindred?" Ruby hoped he liked this name because she was out of ideas.

"Ruff!" luckily, the small wolf seemed to like the name Kindred as he did flips in the air.

"Phew, I'm happy you like the name I wasn't sure what I would do if you didn't," she watched Kindred playfully run around her happy with his new name. He would have kept going, but something alerted him as his ears shot up. Kindred began growling at the door Ruby was going to ask what's wrong when she heard a door open then footsteps follow. Ruby gulped as the steps grew closer and closer. The metal door in the corner of her room began to open slowly, then a middle-aged man with white hair wearing a green suit stepped inside.

"Ah, your awake, Ms. Rose, good how are you feeling?"

"Not very good."

"By your response, it's safe to assume you remember what happened?"

"...Yeah, I do."

"I see, would you mind telling me what happened Ms. Rose?"

"I...I..can't," she was too afraid.

"*Sigh* I'm sorry, Ms. Rose, but withholding what happened will make your situation much worse I need to know what happened," to get his point across, the white-haired man pulled out a scroll and handed it to her. She took one look at the screen and felt her heart sink.

**Breaking News- Young child uses semblance to massacre other kids in her school. Six kids have been confirmed dead with only one survivor who claims they were all brought together to play a game of sorts but were attacked by a large wolf summoned by one of the students.**

"This is this is bullshit!" was all she could say. Ruby understood what she did wasn't good, but to say it was all her idea to bring Mark and his friends to that secluded area was pure bull.

"Who was the survivor!" she needed to know the name of the person who was spreading these lies.

"I believe his name is Mark."

"That son of bitch!" Ruby cursed while slamming her fist down on the cement ground. She was sure Kindred had ripped him to shreds.

'Could his aura have protected him?'

'Damn him for being a semblance user.'

"Ms. Rose, I need you to tell me what happened, or else I will not be able to help you," she looked up at the white-haired man who had an expression she couldn't quite read.

"Can you tell me who you are first and where I am?"

"Of course, my name is Ozpin. I am the current headmaster of Beacon Academy, the school which your parents graduated from many years ago, and you are currently in one of the prison cells at the Patch police station," Ruby winced at the last part she had a feeling this place looked similar to a prison cell she just didn't want to believe it.

"Oh! I'm sorry mom always talked about you if I knew who you where I would of-," Ozpin raised his hand.

"No need to worry I understand truth be told I wished we met under better conditions. Now Ms. Rose, can you please tell me what happened in detail if you can," Ruby nodded she still wasn't ready to tell someone what happened, but she didn't have a choice someone needed to know what actually happened not someone's lies. She took a seat on the bead and took a deep breath, and she began telling Ozpin what happened from start to finish as much as she was able too.

**Ruby's House After the incident-**

"What do you mean that wouldn't let us see her!" a furious summer yelled.

"That's what the police chief told me Summer there was nothing I could do," When Tai heard of the incident, he rushed to the scene, but it was too late by then the local authorities had already detained Ruby. He tried to convince them that there must have been some mistake; there was no way her daughter would hurt anyone. Unfortunately, the cries of a young boy that she attacked them with a giant wolf killing all of his friends wasn't helping his cause. The glares he was getting from the parents of the children that were murdered where awful, but he didn't have time to worry about them. He grabbed Yang and rushed home, then explained to his wife what had happened. They got into contact with Ozpin that they needed his help, which he agreed, but he would be arriving tomorrow at the latest. They messaged Qrow as well, who said he be back in an hour or so. During that time, Tai and Summer spent it arguing back and forth on how they could of let this happen. Although it really wasn't anyone's fault, no one could have anticipated these events happening on such a typical day.

"Mom, what's going to happen to Ruby?" Yang wasn't entirely sure what was happening; all she knew was that Ruby got in a fight, and the police had her that was it.

"I...I...I don't know we have to wait for a friend of ours to come tomorrow," it was a horrible feeling for a mother not to know what was going to happen to her child worse to not be able to see her daughter. She could only hope once Ozpin arrives, he'd be able to fix things. Sadly things had gotten much more complicated the falling day. News articles were popping up left and right on how Ruby massacred the boys from her school. The reports didn't specifically say her name, but on a small island like Patch, it wasn't hard to find out. Thankfully there home was located on the outskirts, so they didn't have to worry about an angry mob or reporters showing up at there doorstep since the Grimm scared them away. School was another issue reporters were swarming all over the place like wild animals looking for food. Anyone and everyone were being questioned, trying to find the big scoop of what actually happened. Unfortunately, almost everyone repeated what Mark had told them, and that was Ruby lured them to the forest then massacred them with her semblance. Adding oil to the fire, others said that she and Mark had disputed and quarreled many times before. That this ending was something, they should have seen coming. There were a few who spoke against the accusation against Ruby saying it was nothing but lies that there was no way that she could commit such a crime. Yet no one listened as they lacked the proof to back up there claim. Thankfully Yang didn't have to deal with the onslaught of reporters or the curious kids in her class as she skipped school.

"Tai, how much do you know of the incident?" Ozpin had arrived in the afternoon, greeting everyone then jumped straight to the issue.

"I only know the same as everyone else," he said with sadness in his voice,

"Which is?"

"..."

"Tai, I can't help if I don't know the current situation," the room was quiet with everyone looking at Tai, waiting for him to answer.

"...Ruby's... Ruby's semblance awakened, and she 'hurt' some of the students at her school on accident," Summer and Qrow didn't bother correcting him; this sounded a lot better than that accusation that was all over the news.

"I see. Where is Ruby now?"

"She's in police custody. They won't let us talk to her or even see her."

"Understandable-."

"How is that understandable! My little girl is probably scared or confused! I don't even know if she's okay!" Summer yelled, not hiding her frustration.

"Calm yourself, Summer. You must understand that this is the procedure when dealing with minors."

"I know!" Summer took a second to calm down before speaking again.

"I'm just really worried about my little girl. This..this whole situation shouldn't have happened," Ozpin walked up to Summer, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I know things appear bleak at the moment, but do not despair; we will get your daughter back. We just need to learn the truth."

"But how can we learn the truth if they won't even let us see her?"

"Hm? Have you forgotten Summer I am one of the leading figures of this kingdom I just need to make some calls, and they should let us talk to her," Summer felt like a fool she had wholly forgotten her old teacher wasn't just an old retired huntsman

"I'm sorry! With everything that happened. I just kind of forgot," Summer laughed meekly.

"hehe, I like how you're the one that called him here Summer but forgot who he is. Where you just going to complain to your old teacher?" Qrow laughed in the back as he sipped on his flask.

"Bite me, Qrow."

"Hey, hey easy there, you two, and thank you, Ozpin, for helping us we are in your debt," Tai politely bowed.

"Think nothing of it, Tai, now if you, please excuse me I'm going to be making some calls," giving everyone a polite nod in return he made his way to the back yard. When he was outside and out of earshot, he pulled out his scroll, dialing a number. No more than three rings went by before someone picked up.

"Hello, Ozpin is the test subject a success?"

"I don't know yet. She is being held in police custody, and they are refusing to let us see her could you 'persuade' them to let us see her?"

"Of course, I shall call you when everything is ready."

"Thank you, and how is our other test subject doing?"

"He has already been transferred, and the testing has resumed."

"Good," with that, he hung up. Looking up, he gazed at the fractured moon that was slightly visible in the day.

"What will you be, Ms. Rose, a failure or a success?" after speaking these words, he headed back inside the house.

**Ruby's Jail cell Present -**

"And that what happened," Ruby had just finished explained what had happened and was waiting to hear Ozpin's response who was quiet the entire time.

"I see, and this wolf here is the one that formed from the dust you regurgitated?" Ozpin studied the wolf pup who hadn't stopped growling at him since he arrived. At first glance, Kindred looked just like an ordinary wolf pup if you can ignore his unique fur color, but if you look closer, his fur was glowing softly as well as his eyes. He was sure if the lights were turned off, he'd still be visible.

"Yeah, that's him. Come on, Kindred stop growling already," Ruby pet his head to calm him down, but Kindred refused to stop growling.

"You said that he was as big as an Ursa when he first came to be, is there a reason why he's like this now?"

"I don't really know he was like this when I woke up. Although I'm happy he shrunk, I don't think he'd be able to fit in this small cell if he was his original size."

"Is he able to communicate with you in any way?" Ruby was starting to wonder if the headmaster even cared about what happened, seeing as he was so fascinated by Kindred.

"No, not really. I know Kindred understands what I'm saying, but he hasn't talked to me you know aside from barking and growling you know regular dog sounds."

"Bark!"

"Ah, sorry, I mean regular wolf sounds."

"Have you experienced any sort of major change like a sort of power surge?" that was an oddly specific question to ask, she thought to herself.

"No, nothing, I feel exactly the same," his questions almost felt like they were never going to end as he continued asking more. However, he seemed to be losing interest as Ruby kept telling him she didn't feel any different it almost annoyed her how many times she told him she couldn't fly.

"What about your aura have you tried-"

"Um! I don't want to sound rude, but isn't there something more important we should be talking about?" like the whole I killed kids from I school mess she was in.

"...Yes, you are right," Ruby could have sworn he sounded disappointed as if the mess she was in wasn't that important to him.

"Hearing your story, I can see you are not at fault as you were only defending yourself. Unfortunately, this does not overshadow the fact that you've taken the lives of your fellow classmates in the process. There is such a thing as excessive self-defense Ms. Rose," Ruby's head drooped, hearing his response.

"I will try to mitigate the damage as much as I can, but there will be consequences. As to what they will be, that will be for the court to decide," Ruby felt cheated that even though she worked up the courage, to tell the truth in hopes she could prove her innocence, she was still being punished like if this was partially her fault.

"It's not fair," she mumbled to herself.

"Did you say something, Ms. Rose?"

"Ah, no, I was just zoning out my bad."

"I see...well, as I was saying, your hearing will be held tomorrow morning."

"Wait! What! Isn't that too soon? Shouldn't we like gather evidence or something first!"

"Yes, that is the proper step to take; unfortunately, we do not have the time available to us."

"What do you mean we don't have the time?"

"The parents of the deceased students have accepted the lie that you are to blame for this, Ms. Rose, and they want you to be brought to justice as soon as possible."

"B-but I didn't do anything wrong! I was just defending myself!" she argued

"And I believe you, but the only person who knows the truth is me while the majority of the people here think you're at fault," Ruby growled at what the professor said. It annoyed her that this all happened because Mark got away if she had made sure Kindred had killed...him?

"!" Ruby felt her blood go cold with the realization that she wanted to kill Mark. These dark thoughts lingered in her head, making her feel uncomfortable.

"Is something the matter Ms. Rose your face is very pale?" before she could respond, a bang on the metal door caught there attention. A middle-aged policeman stood at the door.

"Headmaster Ozpin, your time is up," he said.

"I see, thank you. I'll be right out," the policeman nodded and left, closing the door.

"It appears my time is up I will relay to your family what you have told me. I'm sure it'll set their minds at ease that their little girl was not at fault.

"Y-yeah...thank you.." Ozpin raised an eyebrow; her voice sounded forced. He walked towards her placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, ignoring Kindred, who looked like he was about to bite him.

"Do not despair, Ms. Rose; I will do everything in my power to resolve this, you have my word," with those parting words he left.

It was quiet once Ozpin was gone Kindred had finally calmed down and laid down next to her while she was curled up into a ball. These dark thoughts continue to linger these thoughts she'd never once had or even thought she could have. Ruby wanted to say these weren't her thoughts that someone else was feeding her these dark thoughts, but the more she denied them, the stronger they became. This whole incident had done something to her, something she couldn't explain. But it was gnawing at her like an itch she just couldn't scratch.

"If only I had killed him," she whispered to no one.

**Outside of the police station-**

After thanking the police chief for allowing him to talk to Summer's daughter, he left the station walking back to Tai and Summer's home. He was approached by several reporters asking him questions, which he evaded by feigning ignorance that he didn't know what was happening since he had just arrived. When he reached deeper into the forest, the reporters stopped appearing as it was getting dark, and Grimm were much more active during the night. Ozpin wasn't worried, though, as his assistant had called saying she would be waiting for him along the path. He smiled as he saw a young woman with bright blond hair standing over many defeated Ursas and Beowolfs.

"Hello, Glynda," the young blond turned to see him and smiled in return.

"Hello, Headmaster, how was your visit?" Ozpin sighed as he recalled his conversation with the young girl.

"Unfortunately, it seems she is another failure," Gylnda's smile disappeared.

"I see...what will you do now?"

"Nothing at all," he continued onwards to Summer and Tai's home with Glynda following behind.

**Ruby's Jail Cell**

"*Stomach Growling* I'm sooooo hungry," she tossed around on the cell's bed as her stomach growled for food. This was good and bad. The good part was she wasn't being plagued by negative thoughts on account of her hunger. The bad part was she was starving; she hadn't eaten anything since yesturday. She wasn't sure what time it was since she couldn't see outside, but Ruby was sure lunch and dinner had already past. She felt a nudging on her side and turned to see Kindred standing up and growling at the door again. Footsteps could be heard drawing closer to her cell. Ruby stood up on the bed and waited anxiously for whoever was coming.

'I hope they're bringing food," her stomach grumbled, agreeing with her thoughts.

The footsteps stopped, then her cell door opened slowly, and a police officer entered. He wasn't the same one who came last time this one was younger and looked much more built. He was carrying a plate of food that consisted of a sandwich, some fruit, and a milk carton. Her mouth drooled; it wasn't a five-star meal, but when you haven't eaten in what felt like forever, anything was a five-star meal. She got off the bed and walked towards the officer with the food. Ruby stopped in her tracks suddenly when she felt a chill go down her spine. She wasn't sure why but her body was on high alert. She looked up at the man and noticed something. He was glaring intensely at her; she almost felt like he could glare a hole right through her if he glared any stronger. Ruby stood absolutely still like if she moved or breathed too hard, it was game over.

*Stomach Growling*

Not able to deal with her grumbling stomach anymore, she spoke up, risking it all for the food he had.

"U-ummm hello?" she meekly waved at him, hoping to start maybe a conversation of any kind that would stop him from glaring at her.

"..." It didn't work.

*Stomach Growling louder*

Ruby was sure he heard her stomach growl but made no attempt to give her any of the food he was holding. With an audible gulp, Ruby risked asking for some.

"C-can I maybe get some of the food you have there, uh, please?" his glaring and silence continued. Ruby really felt like he was going to burn a hole right through her at this rate.

"!" Ruby flinched as his hand went up not quickly, but she wasn't expecting it. The young officer grabbed one of the bananas on the tray and held it out to her. She hesitated on grabbing because he never broke his glare while he did it. With another audible gulp, Ruby slowly reached out to grab the banana he was holding. She almost grabbed it till he let it go too soon, and it fell near his feet.

"Ah, sorry," Ruby apologized, hoping he wasn't angry she didn't grab it fast enough. She crouched down and reached for the banana near his feet.

*Squish!*

Just as she was about to grab it, he stepped on one of the ends of the banana, ruining part of it startling her.

"H-hey U-umm, you kind of stepped on the banana," Ruby didn't want to say _why did he step on it_, afraid of what he would do if he did.

"..." his silence and glaring continued.

'Did I do something to him?'

'But what? I don't even know him.'

'Maybe he just dislikes bananas with a passion?'

'Let's try something else.'

"C-could I get some of that milk please?" if he dropped it, he hated her. If not, then he just really hated bananas. Ruby hoped it was the latter. Again his arm went up and grabbed the milk carton he opened it, but didn't give to her right away he started to drink it.

'Maybe he's thirsty too?'

When he finished, he wiped his mouth then handed it to her, which she quickly grabbed, not letting it fall this time. Ruby wanted to sigh in relief that he just hated bananas and that's why he dropped it, but how do you explain an empty milk carton. He had drunk it all, not leaving her a single drop. This left Ruby dumbstruck and speechless it was clear as day now that he disliked her, but why? He didn't give her time to figure it out as he turned and started walking back out.

"W-wait!" she called out.

"...," the police officer stopped but made no effort to turn around.

"I-I ah, I'm not sure what I did to you, but I'm sorry!" Ruby bowed as she apologized.

"Do you know a student named Trey Lopez," Ruby winced, finally hearing his voice, but it sounded so heavy to her.

"Ah n-no, I don't think I do," the man stayed quiet once again, not responding to her.

"Is he someone important to yo-"

"OF COURSE, HE WAS IMPORTANT. HE WAS MY SON!" Ruby wasn't sure what happened one second she was saying something the next he was holding her up by the collar to where her feet weren't touching the ground. Ruby was terrified the glare he was giving her intensified tenfold. It looked like she was starring at a demon in human skin.

"Bark! *Chomp*," Kindred coming to his master's aid bit the officer's leg.

"OW! SON OF BITCH DAMN DOG GET OFF ME!" he violently shook his leg, but Kindred's fangs wherein deep he wasn't letting go.

"I SAID LET GO!" pulling out his baton, the officer smashed it on Kindred's head, making the poor wolf welp in pain letting go. With another violent shake, he shook him off, sending him crashing into the wall.

"Kindred!" she yelled as she struggled to break the grip he had on her collar.

"Why are you doing this? What did we even do to you!" Ruby felt her whole body freeze at the look he gave her. There was so much hatred behind his eyes. A deep hatred aimed at her for reasons unknown to her.

"WHAT DID YOU DO! YOU TOOK MY SON FROM ME! THAT'S WHAT YOU DID!" with a furious growl; he threw Ruby back. The wind left her lungs as her back collided with the wall and slowly slid down onto her bottom. Ruby coughed violently, trying to catch her breath while holding her head that was hurting from it being banged against the wall.

"YOU KILLED MY SON!" he spat out again. Ruby finally realized why he hated her; his son was one of Mark's friends.

"I-I didn't kill him on purpose; I was only trying to defend myself!" she yelled back, but it was a poor choice as she admitted she had killed him.

"YOU EVEN ADMIT YOU KILLED HIM!

"He was trying to hurt me. I was only protecting myself!"

"YOU LIE! EVERYONE KNOWS THE TRUTH!"

"No! You don't Mark's lying everything is his fau-" Ruby didn't get a chance to finish as the officer grabbed once again by the collar and lifted her.

"IT"S ALREADY BAD THAT YOU ADMIT YOU KILLED MY SON BUT NOW YOU"RE SAYING IT WASN'T YOUR FAULT BUT SOMEONE ELSE"S YOU THINK THIS IS A FUCKING JOKE!" he yelled in Ruby's face while he slammed her back into the wall. Ruby was panicking. He wasn't listening to her at all, only hurting her. She struggled to break his grip, but he was too strong.

"KINDRED!" her cry for help was answered as the small wolf lunged at the officer's face biting and clawing at him.

"AHHH! DAMN IT!" the officer screeched in pain as he struggled to get Kindred off, but in doing so, he released Ruby dropping her on the ground. She quickly recovered, but instead of running away and escaping, she dashed towards the officer, her hands clenched into tight fists. Ruby didn't know why this was her choice. There was no way she could win a fight against him, but she wanted payback for the way he treated her and Kindred. He was still crying in pain as Kindred continually clawed and chewed on his face, and she was going to make it a lot worse as she slide tackled him off his feet, dropping him hard on his back.

"GAH!" Ruby noticed he dropped his baton when he fell and quickly grabbed it. Holding it firmly, she yelled at Kindred to move and when he did.

*CRACK!*

She used every ounce of power she had on that swing, hitting him directly in the face. He twitched a bit before going completely limp. She fell to her knees, dropping the baton clenching her chest. The awful burning feeling she was feeling earlier was back much stronger than it was before.

"Why now!" she cried, clenching her chest, trying to make the pain go away.

"What's going on here!" a group of officers burst into her cell and where horrified to see one of there comrades on the ground unconscious. His face had been severely torn apart by Kindred's clawing and biting, not to mention he had an awful broken nose from when Ruby hit him with the baton.

"GET ON THE GROUND NOW!" one of them yelled, pulling out a taser and aiming it at her.

"W-wait It wasn't my fault I was only defending myself," she said weakly, still in pain from the burning sensation that was growing by the minute.

"GET ON THE GROUND NOW, OR WE WILL SHOOT!"

"!"

"STOP WHAT YOUR DOING AND GET ON THE GROUND!" Ruby was wondering why they said stopped what she was doing. She wasn't doing anything. At least that's what she thought till she looked at her chest. Whatever was shining inside her was radiating so brightly it was illuminating her surroundings.

"WE SAID STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING, OR WE WILL SHOOT!"

"I CAN'T!" she yelled back. Whatever was happening to her, it was going to happen. Nothing could stop it.

"Gah!" something had pierced her arm and chest. However, before she could see what it was, she felt waves and waves of current pass through her shocking her. SHE screeched in pain, except it wasn't the thousands of volts going through her, no It was the burning feeling in her chest. The voltage only stimulated the burning sensation to grow even stronger. Then it happened. It reached the melting point, and she screamed whatever was inside of her was released. And whatever hopes she had of returning back to a normal life was erased along with everything around her.


	3. Chapter 3 Remake

**Yeah sorry about the delay for this chapter I should have had this uploaded before February ended but I've been busy with work and such, but hey better late than never I always say.**

* * *

**Ch. 3**

_**'**_**Alright You Ready To Pay The Price'**

**-Two Months Later-**

A middle-aged woman with rough features stares down a hallway with prison cells neatly spaced out along it. She is suited in a brown uniform that's protected by heavy metal plating all around. She grins and walks forward passing a placard that says **_Patch Women's Correctiontional Facility_**

*BANG*

*BANG*

"RISE AND SHINE YOU SACK'S OF SHIT!" She roared down the hallway. The warden continued to sound her wake up call as she banged along the metal bars of inmates prison cells with a metal club. Her smirk grew broader, hearing the groaning of the inmates for the rude awakening. It was like music to her ears. She proceeded to each floor, repeating the same charming line along with the banging of her club. This system went on until she reached the top level. The correctional officer's smirk faded as she walked through the hallway. There was nothing different or unique about this floor. It had the same amount of cells as the other floor, all equally spaced throughout the hall. Yet almost all of them were empty. The only prison cell that housed an inmate was located at the very back. As the correctional officer drew closer, more guards appeared behind her, all wearing the same armored uniforms, but unlike her, they are armed with special dust rifles proficient in neutralizing semblance users. When they reached the last cell, the correctional officer raised her hand, and the guards behind her scattered then rejoined in front of the cell. There was a gap down the center, allowing her to pass through and reach the entrance to the prison cell. Raising her metal club ready to repeat her favorite line one last time.

*BANG!*

*BANG!*

"RISE AND SHINE YOU SACK OF SHIT!?" Desiring a specific reaction, she made sure to be extra loud with this one. And she got her desired result a startled cry could be heard along with a loud thump inside the prison cell. The officer's smirk returned, satisfied with the result.

"Up and at 'em Rose today's your big day!" Ruby groaned as she got up from the floor.

"You have 60 seconds to wash up and not look like a pile shit!" another groan followed as Ruby made her way to the sink resisting the urge to argue that 60 seconds is not enough. She turned the valve all the way, yet she only got a drizzle of water out of it.

"Stupid sink," she murmured while splashing water on her face with whatever she could grasp.

"Tick Tock Rose!"

"Geez, your so impatient," she spoke in a low voice so the officer wouldn't hear her complaint.

"What was that!"

"Nothing!"

"Hmph," sighing in relief that she didn't occur the officer's wrath, Ruby looked at herself in the mirror as she still had 30 seconds left if she was lucky. She ran her fingers, threw her hair trying to straighten it, but it was pointless without a comb. It also didn't help that small chunks of dust had started accumulating in her hair.

"Darn it not again," after the second incident, Ruby had undergone a significant change. Her body had started generating raw dust. At first, they assumed she was able to manipulate it, so they put her in a prison cell that was dust-free, but after a day, reddish dust could be found all over the prison cell. It seemed that only her hands and feet, along with her hair, seem to be the only parts of her body that emitted dust, which was fortunate because it would have been awful to wake up in clothes full of dust if her whole body released it. It glowed and functioned like any other dust. It could even be refined into higher quality. This wasn't the only noticeable change, although it was the most significant. Next was her hair and eyes. They had started to glow not brightly, but if you turn off the lights, you could see floating silver eyes and reddish hair. Ruby really liked this change. She was her very own night light, never having to fear the dark anymore.

Lastly, there was, "Kindred come on wake up we need to get ready quick, or she's gonna hose us again," the once young pup was now an adult wolf that rivaled the Mackenzie Valley wolf the largest wolf breed in all of Remnant. His frightening change in size alarmed her wardens. Out of fear that he would attack them since Kindred had a record of attacking people, they tried to put the wolf down as they would with any dangerous wild animal. Unfortunately for them, Kindred wasn't a regular animal. Pentobarbital, the most popular medication for putting animals down, was ineffective on him, so were any other types of injections. Firearms where the next option, yet they never got to try as Kindred broke free from his captivity injuring many guards as it made it's way back to its master's side. After his return, Ruby pleaded with them not to hurt him anymore. That he would behave and not injure anyone, they accepted with the condition that he'd wear a reinforced metal muzzle along with gloves that covered his claws at all times even when he slept. It saddened Ruby to see Kindred so restrained, but this was a better alternative than having them put him down.

Kindred scoffed as he jumped off the bed. He wanted to groom himself, but with the muzzle on his mouth, it was impossible to do so. He whimpered at Ruby, giving her the puppy dog eyes.

"I'm sorry, Kindred I can't take it off or else they'll get mad at both of us," scratching his neck to soothe him Ruby tried her beast to groom him running her fingers threw his thick fur. Surprisingly his coat had no dust in it, which was weird since Ruby contaminated the cell with so much raw dust that the warden barked at her to stop doing that. She would if she knew how to turn it off.

*Ruby's Cell Door Opening*

"Alright time's up Rose, you know the drill," Ruby nodded and walked to the back of her cell. She put her hands against the wall and spread her legs.

"You to mutt," with an annoyed huff Kindred obeyed sitting next to Ruby facing the wall.

"Search them," two guards entered the cell, positioning themselves behind Ruby and Kindred. They gave each other a nod before starting their pat-down. Ruby always felt uncomfortable whenever they did this as they grabbed and felt each part of her body. She understood why they did this, but it didn't change the fact that she felt violated in a way.

'At least they're both girls,' she thought to herself.

She turned to see Kindred even more annoyed than before as the guard patted down his fur for weapons. Ruby also noticed his nose twitching like if he was about to...

*Achoo!*

The guard patting Kindred jumped back startled, almost reaching for his gun. Ruby sighed, seeing Kindred smirking. He had done it on purpose, knowing how the guard would react.

"Kindred come on behave today's our last day here, and I don't wanna get hosed before we leave," this time, Kindred sighed as he remembered that cursed day. It was there first day since they arrived, and the warden was explaining to rules she needed to follow to the letter. The warden ended the explanation saying that if Ruby broke any of the rules, she would be punished just like any other inmate. Now, this is where Ruby made the mistake of asking how they'd punished rule breakers. The warden smirked as if knew Ruby would ask. Reaching for her radio and saying, "Bring the hose, Rose here wants to see how we punish rule breakers."

Ruby gulped as she stood back against the wall facing the entrance to her cell. While on the other side was not one hose like she assumed, but many hoses that varied in size and shape. She could have sworn she saw a firefighters hose mixed in there.

"Anything to say before we show you how we punish rule-breakers, Ms. Rose?" Ruby knew there was nothing she could do to stop this from happening, so she settled with a simple correction.

"It's Hoses', not hose."

"Noted," and with that, Ruby and Kindred received the shower of a lifetime.

"Alright, Rose, here's what's going to happen today. After we cuff you from head to toe were going to head towards the cafeteria for one last meal. Then from there were going to go to the locker room where you'll change into a fresh uniform. Now assuming we didn't shoot you by our second stop, we'll be heading outside to the courtyard where we'll wait for the prison transport to pick you up and take you away from here. Any questions?"

"Y-yeah well It's more of a request than a question,"

"Hm. Alright, since it's your last day, I'll humor you. What's your request?"

"Please don't shoot me," Ruby said dryly.

"HA! Even if you are a ticking time bomb were sure gonna miss you, Rose," the warden then snapped her fingers, and the guards around her began shackling her from head to toe. They descended the floors in a circle formation with Ruby in the middle. As they walked, Ruby noticed the other inmates were staring at her from there cells.

"Hey! Look, everyone, its the terrorist!" one inmate yelled.

"Careful, you don't want to get her angry again, or she might explode again!"

"Hey, Red! If your gonna explode again, take that bitch with ya!" another inmate yelled, pointing at the warden. Ruby sighed as she continued her descent. It was always like this whenever she left her cell. The inmates would verbally abuse her with stupid names and reminding her of what Ruby did, which frustrated her since she wanted nothing more than to forget what had happened. At least this is the last time she'd have to deal with them.

There's nothing they could do to ruin this...right?

*Thunk*

Ruby winced, as a bar of soap, hit her right in the temple.

"Come on! If your gonna explode, do it already!"

"Yeah, hurry up and kill us all already!" another inmate yelled, throwing a crumpled up can of soda that hit her on the top of her head.

"Yea! Come on! Explode! Explode! Explode!" one inmate started a chant that unfortunately caught on with the other inmates as they also began chanting for her to explode while also throwing anything they could find at her. Ruby shielded her face as she walked, trying her best to sound out the annoying chant that was starting to really grind at her. As much as she wanted to scream at them to shut up, Ruby held it back. If she did yell at them, Ruby was sure one of the guards would shoot her no questions asked. She peeked from within her guarded arms to see if the guards were at least trying to stop them. Ruby frowned upon seeing they hadn't stopped pointing their guns at her. It was like they were waiting for Ruby to snap so they could put a bullet in her.

'This is my life now,' Ruby thought to herself as she reached the cafeteria.

Luckily the cafeteria was empty, so she didn't have to worry about being pelted with objects and verbally abused while she ate. That's if the food she got was even edible this time. During her stay, lunchtime had changed from her favorite to the most hated part of the day. It was all thanks to this weird brown muck, this correctional facility called food. The first time Ruby tried the muck, it was in 'soup form' as she had come to dub one of the many forms this weird muck seemed to take. The next time it was hard as a rock to the point where some of the inmates used it as a weapon instead of trying to eat it. Other times it took on this weird sludge form that seemed to feel like she was eating some type of slug. Yet no matter what form this muck took, it always had the same horrendous taste that made her almost vomit every time she ate it since it was either this or starving to death. Moments like these made her wish she was Kindred since he never ate this muck. Actually, Kindred never ate anything at all since arriving now that she thought about it. Yet he still had a massive physique for a wolf his size never looking malnourished at all.

'

Ruby walked up to the counter, grabbed a cheap plastic plate. Then turned towards the lunch lady who always gave her the same stink-eye she gave everyone while scooping some muck from an old stainless pot, then letting it slowly drip onto her plate, which unfortunately was a good sign since it meant the muck was in its soup form this time.

"Thank you," she turned to walk to her table when she heard the lunch lady say something under her breath.

"...Watch your back out there, Red," Ruby usually never got anything more than a growl whenever she thanked her for the food, so she was surprised when she heard her.

"I will," giving her a quick nod, Ruby left to her table, taking her advice to heart since her prison life was far from over.

Eating lunch was stressful and awkward, mostly because whenever Ruby looked up from her plate, there was a gun pointed at her face with the intention of putting her down. At one point, Ruby had asked if they wouldn't aim their weapons at her face while she ate since it made it difficult to do so. The guards responded by cocking their rifles, which was a clear sign that her request had been rejected. When lunch ended, they escorted her to the locker rooms. Which led to another uncomfortable moment, and that was changing out of her old uniform into a fresh one. Having multiple people aiming a rifle at you while you changed was weird on so many levels even if she had nothing to hide since she hadn't reached that 'age' yet it was still hella of uncomfortable for her. The new uniform she was given was the same style you would see in prison movies, an orange-colored jumpsuit with no pockets with the word '**Inmate**' stitched ontop the back in black lettering. Depositing her old one into the clothes bin, she sighed that just like her old one; this one didn't fit her either. She Rolled up the sleeves as well as the hem of her pants so she wouldn't trip and fall. They then headed towards the courtyard where they would wait for the prisoner transport vehicle that would take her away from this hell hole to another hell hole. Waiting wasn't very long as the transport arrived shortly after they did, which was good because it was way too hot to be waiting in the open courtyard. The carrier was a school bus, but instead of the familiar yellow, it was white and armored to be able to withstand firearms. The doors slid open, and a large man wearing military aviation shades stepped out. He wore the same armored uniform as the warden, and her guards did the only exception was his physique was massive. Ruby was sure he could crush her scroll with just one hand. He looked down and scowled at her as if she just ruined his day. The large man then turned towards the warden who handed him a clipboard. While he read the information given to him, the guards began removing her restraints one by one but left her hands cuffed together. Once the done, the transport guard handed the clipboard back, giving the warden a nod that he could take it from here. With the warden and her group gone, it was just Ruby and the transport guard. He glared at her for a bit then started walking around her hands behind his back.

"Ruby Rose convicted of mass murder at the age of ten," his voice was sharp as he talked.

"Your victims include students from your school and several police officers," Ruby didn't attempt to correct any of the statements considering he probably wouldn't care.

"There is also a charge for destroying city property, namely the police headquarters," again, this was debatable, but there was no point in arguing.

"You, along with the mutt, are being classified as a Tier 1 threat to yourself along with those around you. So here's what's going to happen you're going to be getting on this bus, and you'll be on your best goddamn behavior, or you will be put down no questions asked. Now we're going to be transferring you to Vale's unique correctional facility for people like you that can't control their semblance and are a threat to innocent people. It's going to be a long, long ride. There will be no bathroom breaks, so if you need to go, then you'd best be ready to piss yourself. Do not talk to anyone onboard for any reason I expect you to keep your mouth shut the entire ride. The moment you do say something, you will be disciplined, is that understood?" Ruby, only meekly nodded.

"Good now get on," the transport guard gave her a rough push that almost dropped her to show he wasn't afraid to be forceful with a minor. Kindred growled at the transport guard but, Ruby shook her head that it wasn't worth it, so he stopped.

"As for your mutt you're going in here," the transport guard opened the side of the bus to reveal a mounted cage made of reinforced steel. Kindred whimpered as he looked at Ruby.

"Sorry, Kindred, please bear with it for a bit more, please," the wolf looked down frustrated as he jumped into the cage that was just big enough to accommodate his size.

Stepping on the bus, Ruby noticed two things that it was almost at full capacity and that it was a mixed bus with both males and females. The only seat available was all the way in the back. As she walked to it, she glanced at several other inmates who glared at her as if they were on any other bus they would of beat her to a pulp. Several of them where tatted all over others had piercings in places that made Ruby feel uncomfortable. One thing for sure was Ruby was way out of place here. She looked like the softest person here. Deciding to just make it quickly to her seat, she picked up the pace. But there was something that caught her attention. Small specs of silver dust were drifting out of one of the aisles she turned to see a boy that didn't look much older than her. Unlike the others, he wasn't tatted all over or had piercings. What he did have that interested her, even more, was his hair and eyes glowed much like her own. They locked eyes Ruby had never met anyone else that had silver eyes like her aside from her mother. His hair was slicked back and ashen in color, a shade she had never seen before.

Another thing that Ruby noticed was that he looked sad like something terrible had happened. Well, something terrible probably did happen if he was in a prisoner like her. They continued to stare at one another not out of ill will, but more like neither of them could find the words to say to one another.

"What's the hold-up, Rose!" the transport guard's yell snapped Ruby out of her daze.

"A-ah, sorry," not wanting to get disciplined, she dashed to her seat.

After she sat down, a different transport guard approached her, not quite as intimidating as the one in the front, but nonetheless still looked threatening to the young redhead. He shackled her cuffs onto the chair and her legs to the floor of the bus. Verifying she was bound correctly, the second transport guard nodded to the first. Who then gave the driver the green light that they were good to go. The truck's engine hummed as it started the long trip to Vale. Ruby drifted off into her thoughts, seeing as she wasn't allowed to talk to anyone. The redhead recalled the boy from earlier, aside from his glowing ashen hair and silver eyes. He had pale white skin with a sort of bulky physique. Not really fat, nor did it look like he worked out just bulky. Height wise, he was probably taller than her just like everyone else in her life. Ruby hated being short, but what could she do? She could only hope she grew just like her sister did. The redhead was jerked out of her thoughts when the bus violently skipped from hitting a pothole.

"Owwww," she rubbed her forehead that had collided with the back of the seat in front of her.

"..Stupid seat," she murmured, not wanting the guard to hear her.

"Hm?" turning to look outside at something that caught her attention.

**Patch Downtown 5 miles**

Ruby frowned she had forgotten the only route that would take them off her little island would go threw the city itself. She would have to witness the aftermath of what she had done. The redhead could only hope no one would see her bus and just pass through with no incident.

"MURDER!"

"KILLER!"

"MONSTER!" unfortunately, her prayers weren't answered as the moment they rolled into the city, an angry mob greeted the bus. They didn't attempt to hinder the bus from passing through, which was good. Though they did berate her with insults, some even had signs that said she should be put down for what shes has done like some kind of animal. Ruby clutched her hands tightly because the worst was yet to come. The place that sealed her fate as the most loathed person in all of Patch.

**Patch Police Headquarters**

Ruby closed her eyes shut. She couldn't bear to look at what she had done. The once-proud police headquarters was reduced to nothing more than rubble and dust. A small makeshift memorial was built in front of where the entrance used to be. Numerous candles were lit alongside the pictures of the fallen police officers who were unfortunate enough to be there at that time. It was a day that would never be forgotten by the citizens of Patch. It was the day Ruby Rose was exiled from Patch, never allowed to return. Ruby clutched her hands so tightly that her nails were digging into the redhead's skin, but that the pain she felt was the least of her worries. She wanted nothing more than to crawl into the most bottomless hole right now and disappear from all of Remnant. Yet as if to remind her that it wasn't going to happen. A young woman rushed towards the bus and began pounding on her mirror while screaming.

"GIVE THEM BACK! GIVE ME BACK MY HUSBAND! GIVE ME BACK MY SON! GIVE ME BACK MY FAMILY!" she was quickly pried away from the bus by the police officers who were in the area. They stopped her from banging on the bus, but it didn't stop her from screaming her pain and sorrow at the poor girl. The redhead covered her ears; it was too much for her. To be blamed for something that wasn't her fault. To be hated by people, she once called friends. To be kicked out of her home, she's known since birth and told she could never come back.

"Ugh! Oh no, not again," Ruby clenched her chest as the same burning sensation began building up again. Her breathing increased as she started to panic; thankfully, the guards hadn't noticed yet, but it was only in a matter of time. To add to her dilemma, the bus began to shake; however, not from the rocky road. Ruby could feel it Kindred was becoming restless. Her altered state must be affecting him as well. She needed to calm down before her chest started to glow like before. If Ruby didn't, the guards, for sure, put a bullet in her. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. The young girl's mind, as well as her heart, was a mess at the moment. The events that unfolded earlier were eating at her Ruby could still vividly recall the young widow's sorrowful cry.

"!" her face began to pale as she noticed her chest was starting to glow slightly.

"No no no no," she mumbled to herself squeezing her chest tightly as if she wanted to grab what was glowing and yank it out.

"!" Ruby's face paled, noticing one of the guards was walking down the aisle, checking on everyone.

'Really! Now you wanna check on people!' she bit her lip as she mentally screamed, can this get any worse?.

**'Easy kid at this rate, your gonna pop again,' **startled by the sudden voice, but managing to hold back her voice from yelping. Ruby looked around but couldn't find the source.

'Great now I'm hearing things now.'

**'I think hearing things is the least of your worries right now, kid,' **again she heard the voice and just as before she was unable to locate the source.

"Who are you? Where are you?" she whispered.

**'I'll explain everything, but first, you need to calm down, or that guard that's walking towards you is gonna put in bullet in ya, and it ain't gonna be pretty,' **Ruby nodded agreeing that a bullet to the head is most definitely not pretty.

**'Good now, I need you to close your eyes and take deep breaths slowly,' **closing her eyes**, **Ruby began to inhale through her nose then exhale through her mouth.

**'Nice and slow...good,' ** Ruby could feel the energy building up slowly dwindle but not enough.

**'Now, this next part is going to be a bit tricky, but it should get rid of the excess energy you've built up.'**

"What do I do?"

**"Keep taking deep breaths, but when you inhale, let the power build-up then when you exhale push it out.'**

"Push it out? Won't I just make a mess or something?"

**'Not if you give it to Kindred.'**

"What do you mean?"

**'I'll explain after just give it to kindred hurry! The guard's almost here!' **Ruby did as she was told and inhaled, letting the power build up again. This time her chest didn't feel like it was on fire more like she felt warm inside. It felt nice to the young girl. Feeling she built up all she could, she exhaled slowly, pushing the energy out, sending it to Kindred. The process was unique. Ruby couldn't honestly describe how it felt or how it worked it, but it just felt natural to her as if she always knew how to do this. The energy slowly drifted out of her as it was transferred to her familiar. Seeing as no one was reacting to what she was doing, Ruby assumed the process wasn't something other people could perceive.

**'Try not to give him to much energy or he'll-,' **a thunk could be heard as well as a small whimper.

"What happened to him?" Ruby asked worriedly.

**'Nothing he just got to big and probably bonked his head on the roof the cage or something.'**

"How big?"

**'Who knows, but don't worry, he'll get smaller over time. Hey, look sharp, the guard's here.' **Ruby opened her eyes and looked up to see the guard with a clipboard in his hand, looking down on her.

"U-uum uh...hi?" she said awkwardly.

The guard didn't respond; he just scribbled something on his clipboard, then turned and walked away. Ruby let out a sigh of relief that she didn't blow up again or take a bullet to the head.

**'Now all we gotta do is relax till we get there.'**

"Hey, are you gonna tell me who you are and where you are?" Ruby was thankful for the stranger's aid, but she couldn't help but be cautious over someone she couldn't see talking to her.

**'Well, I don't have a name yet, so I can't tell you who I am. As for where I am, I'm inside of you.'**

"The way you phrased that makes me feel a bit uncomfortable."

**'Does it? Sorry, I wish I could explain it better, but I've only just woken up.'**

"You were sleeping inside of me? For how long?" the voice in her head laughed a bit.

**'It does sound dirty when you phrase it like that. I'm honestly not sure how long it's been, but I can tell you when I was born, maybe that'll help.'**

"Errrr, ah, okay?" Ruby wasn't sure knowing when he was born would help her, but hey, she had nothing to lose.

**'You know that warm feeling you were feeling in your chest earlier?'**

"I wouldn't call it a warm feeling at the beginning, but yeah, why?"

**'Do you remember the last time you felt this way?' **the young girl frowned it seemed like everyone was making damn sure she would never forget that dreadful day.

"Yeah, it was two months ago."

**'Then I've been asleep for two months.'**

"Wait, are you saying you were born when I had that incident?"

**'Is it that surprising? I mean, Kindred was born the same way was he not?' **Ruby then realized the voice was right Kindred also came to be when that burning sensation in her chest had reached it's melting point, but if that was the case, she couldn't remember ever throwing up dust or a rose petal like before. Now that she thought about it, she had no idea what happened after her second incident. She only recalled waking up hours later in an armored vehicle that was heading towards the correctional facility.

"I remember reaching my limit then being tased after that; it's pretty much a blur sorry."

**'No worries.'**

"But wait if you're like Kindred. Why can you talk? And do you also have a wolf form like he does?"

**'I'm not sure why I can talk; I just know that I can. As for what I look like, I'd rather show you."**

"Wait, I don't think tha-!" before she could stop the voice dust began to flow out of her hand. Thankfully it was only small amounts so no one would notice. It started to cluster together in front of the young redhead forming something. As the dust took to shape, Ruby could see wings being created as well as a small body for them. When the process finished, Ruby was holding a little bird in her hands. Well, to be more exact, Ruby was holding a small nevermore. He had the same body characteristics of a nevermore except for his feathers being auburn instead of pitch-black. His eye's also glowed silver instead of the usual yellow and red.

"How do I look?" he asked, stretching his wings slightly.

"Unique," the nevermore cocked his head to the side a bit puzzled.

"Is that good?"

"Yeah, your basically one of a kind; there's no one like you," Ruby smiled at the small, nevermore scratching under his beak with her finger that seemed to make him happy.

"Hey, if you're like Kindred, then that means you don't have a name either, right?" she asked the bird as she set him gently down on her lap.

"Nope was hoping you'd give me one."

"Well, ahhh, I can't name you Qrow since that's my uncle's name, hmmm. How about Griffon?"

"I think that name is already taken by another familiar."

"Really? Darn, okay, let's see how about Kazooie?"

"I'm not a red-crested breegull, nor do I want to be used like a club to smash things."

"Squawks?"

'Yeah, no."

"Roach?"

"Your not a witcher, and I'm not a horse."

"Pika-."

*Peck*

"Ow! Geez fine, I'll stop trying to name you after a video game character."

"You'd better."

"Tiki?"

*Peck*

"Ow!"

"Take it seriously!" Ruby huffed in annoyance.

'This is gonna take a while,' she mentally said to herself.

"I heard that," Ruby giggled softly at his response.

**-A Few Hours Later-**

"You're terrible with names," the nevermore stated after, declining another name.

"Na, you're just picky. Hey, hide the guard's making his rounds again," the auburn colored bird crawled into her sleeves, waiting till the guard left. The same as before, he glared at her, then scribbled something on his clipboard then walked away. Ruby didn't think much of it at first, but after watching him do it multiple times, Ruby noticed he only did this to her and a select few. She wanted to ask him why he did that, but she doubt she'd get an answer.

"Is the coast clear?"

"Yea, he's gone," the nameless bird popped out of her sleeve, taking his seat on her lap again. Ruby looked out the window, trying to think of more names to give him when she noticed something.

"Oh, it's getting dark," she was engrossed in trying to name the feathery familiar that time had drifted by without her noticing. It was dusk now in a matter of minutes, or maybe seconds, the auburn sky would be swallowed by night, revealing the shattered moon as well as the stars. As Ruby gazed at the dimly lit sky, slowly darkening a name popped in her head, it wasn't anything clever or unique. She wouldn't be surprised if he rejected it; nonetheless, the young girl said it anyways.

"How about Lux?"

"Lux?"

"Yeah," he didn't reject it right away, so that was a plus.

"Why, Lux?"

"Well-," before Ruby could explain, the bus jerked to a stop causing the young girl to face plant onto the seat in front of her harshly.

"Whoa, you okay, kid?" Ruby was trying her best to hold back her tears.

"No, that really hurt," she said, weakly rubbing her nose that felt tender.

"I wonder why we stopped so suddenly," the small avian peeked down the aisle careful not to be seen by anyone.

"Hey, kid, there's some weird people on the bus."

"Huh?" also peeking down the aisle. Ruby saw a group of men entering the bus. Just like the transport guards, they wore combat fitted gear. With the only noticeable difference being, they wore masks obscuring there face. One of the men walked up to the head guard and started talking to him. Ruby was too far to back to be able to hear what they were saying, but she did notice that the head guard handed him the clipboard he used to jot stuff down when he did his rounds. The masked man studied the clipboard for a bit before handing it back. He gave the head transport guard a nod before turning to walk down the aisle deeper into the bus, followed by the others that boarded with him. They stopped at a seat and studied the inmate who was glaring at them while shackled.

"Dafaq, you looking at asshole!" he barked at them. It didn't seem to bother the masked group as they just turned to each other then shook there heads like if they were unimpressed with what they saw. They turned to walk deeper in the bus when the inmate that was being examined spit on one of the masked men. The inmate began to yell out insults repeatedly at him, expecting the masked man to lash out at him or something. Unfortunately, he got a different reaction from what he expected.

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

Ruby's eyes went wide in disbelief. The masked man had shot the inmate dead just like that. No words, no nothing, he holstered his weapon back then rejoined his group. Silence and shock overtook the bus. No one dared to even look at the masked group, not wanting to meet the same fate as there fellow (ex)inmate did. Ruby gulped in uneasiness as she watched the masked group go from seat to seat, examining the inmate there. Same as before, they shook their heads and kept going. Her unease intensified when she noticed that they were going to the same seats as the head guard did when he did his rounds. Ruby looked down to see Lux already making his way into her sleeve, probably noticing the same thing.

"They're almost here," she said quietly.

"Just stay calm. The masked men will probably just shake there heads like they did with everyone else then leave," Lux reassured her. Ruby gulped they where almost to her seat only a few more to go.

"...Look at this one," since they were about four seats away from her, Ruby was able to hear them fine.

"Yeah, he's not like the rest. Let's take this one," Ruby looked down the aisle, curious to see who was the unlucky soul that was chosen.

"Come on outside you go," one of the masked men unhooked his shackles from the Buses' floor and pulled him off his chair.

"It's the boy with the ashen hair," the same boy that had glowing hair and eyes like hers. The masked men were taking him off the bus shackles and all. They seemed satisfied with the ashen haired boy as they all made their way off the bus. Ruby wanted to feel relieved they didn't come to her seat, but she was worried about the boy.

Where are they taking him?

Why are they taking him?

Who are those masked men?

While Ruby was trying to answer questions, she didn't know the answers too. The head guard had called out to one of the masked men right before he stepped off the bus. They started talking for a bit; then, the head guard pointed clearly at Ruby, which she failed to notice as she was still absorbed in her thoughts. Giving a quick nod, the last masked man walked down the aisle heading straight for the red hair girl's seat.

"Kid look sharp someone's coming," Lux's warning pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Wait, who's com..ing...," sadly, she wasn't able to compose herself in time as the last masked man was right beside her studying her. His eyes wandered from her glowing eyes to her hands that were leaking out small specs of the usual reddish dust. After a minute or so, the masked man tapped his ear then spoke.

"Hey, I found one more like the boy should we take this one too?" there was a brief moment of silence where Ruby hoped he'd take it as a no and leave her.

"Yeah, if there's another one like this one, bring it," Ruby sighed. Of course, they were going to take her with her luck; she should have just raised her hand and volunteered to go when they took the boy earlier. Same as the boy, he unhooked her shackles from the floor then pulled her off her seat.

"Come one, let's go outside," he walked forward, pulling her shackles, not giving her any other option but to follow. Stepping off the bus, she shivered as the cold night wind hit her. The man pulled her chains, telling her to keep up as they walked towards an armored vehicle that looked similar to the trucks that transport money from banks. As they gained distance from the bus, Ruby felt a buzz in her chest. It wasn't painful or anything more like it was reminding her of something.

"W-wait," stopping, she turned to look back at the bus. Then back at the man who kept his hand by his firearm watching her.

"I have a friend on the bus I have to take with me," she kept her voice calm, not wanting this to go south.

"Forget about them. You'll make better friends where were going now come on, let's go," he said flatly, pulling her chains a bit forceful to keep her walking, but the girl remained planted to the ground.

"No, well, you see, he's not a person. He's more like my pet or familiar I should say," the man raised an eyebrow.

"A familiar?" he asked questioningly.

"Yeah, he's a wolf...a kind of large wolf," she whispered the last part, hoping he didn't hear that.

"Yeah, no, I'm not gonna take a wolf with us come on we're leaving," he forcefully pulled on her chains, jerking her forward. However, the girl resisted with everything she had, earning an annoyed growl from the man.

"Alright! Listen here; this isn't some fucking game! Now you either walk yourself, or I put a bullet in both your legs and drag you there! You decide!" to enforce his point, he unholstered his firearm, pointing it at her legs. Ruby was trembling in fear the man was dead serious about dragging her there. She could see it in his eyes even though the mask, but she couldn't back down. How can the girl abandon one of the last few people in her life that Ruby could firmly call a friend? Sure Kindred wasn't a person, but without him, all of the endless nightmares every single night would have eaten away at her till there was nothing left. Kindred was always there to wake her when the horrors proved to be too much, or she needed a shoulder when it was too much for her to keep bottled up inside. Even if he couldn't talk, just having someone listen to her without calling the girl a monster or degrade her with insults was a blessing she couldn't afford. So there was no way Ruby was leaving without Kindred. Not after everything he's done for her. Clenching her hands, hoping this worked, she slowly got on her knees then put her head against the cold dirt ground.

"Please, I'll do anything you want. I'll even take a bullet to the leg if I have to so, please take Kindred with us. He won't hurt anyone, I promise," Ruby begged, not caring how shameful she looked right now. The man glared at her weapon, still primed and ready to put a bullet in her.

"..."

"..."

"...Tch. Fine!" the man holstered his weapon then tapped on his ear.

"Make room we got an animal coming with us!" he didn't wait for a response as the masked man just walked towards Ruby pulling her up from the hair behind her head, making her cringe in discomfort.

"We'll take your damn pet with us, but you'd best be ready to pay the price for this. Understood?" Ruby nodded.

"Good now, wheres this pet of yours?"

"He's under the bus in a compartment right next to the door."

"Then let's go get him hurry up!" pushing her back towards the bus with the man following closely behind.

"Hey, Kindred," she said warmly as the wolf jumped out of the cage that was a lot smaller than she remembered.

"Good now let's go we've already wasted more time than we should have," yanking her chains forcefully Ruby stumbling forward almost falling.

"God damn, what took you so long!" one of the masked man's comrade complained.

"I had to go back for this girl's stupid pet," he said in annoyance as she walked to his comrades.

"Jesus Christ, that's a big wolf. It's not gonna attack us, is it?" his other comrade said worryingly, keeping his hand on his holstered weapon.

"Nope, Red here promised she'd keep it on a tight leash now come on, let's get out of here."

"Alright, toss her in the back with the other one, and we'll hit the road."

"You gonna toss that wolf back there too?"

"Yea, once Red here pays the toll for the mutt," as his comrades went to start the vehicle, Ruby was taken to the back of the armored truck.

"Alright, you ready to pay the price?" he said, coldly pulling out his weapon one last time. Ruby knew this was coming. The girl was mentally preparing herself while they walked, but even so, Ruby was scared shitless of what was going to happen. She took a second to crouch down near Kindred, petted his head, and whispered in his ear that no matter what happens, he needed to stay on his best behavior. The wolf whimpered it understood that something terrible was going to happen to his master; nonetheless, he obeyed standing perfectly still. Ruby stood back up and walked forward.

"I'm ready to pay the price," the man cocked his gun and aimed it at her.

I'll tell what Kid I'll let you pick which leg," Ruby took a second or two to think then said her answer.

"Left."

*Bang!*

In a way, Ruby was grateful he didn't hesitate to pull the trigger, and it was quickly over and done with though she wished she wasn't in excruciation pain from being shot in her **right** leg.

* * *

**The next chapter should be uploaded at the end of this month If work doesn't decide o be a pain in the ass. Although the next chapter might be a bit dark still contemplating on this though.**


	4. Chapter 4 Remake

**Here's chapter 4 of the remake hope you guys like it.**

* * *

**Ch. Remake 4**

**"Nevermind, Ruby I found out."**

**-Ruby-**

"How are you doing, kid?" Lux whispered, popping out from her collar slightly so he wouldn't be seen.

"W-well, my throat hurts from screaming so much. There's also a bullet in my leg that I can feel whenever I move it, though on the plus side I didn't bleed to death like they do in the movies, so I have that going for me," Ruby laughed a bit, or at least she tried with her throat being sore it made it impossible. After she paid the toll, the masked man threw her in the truck, ignoring her shrieks of pain. He then slammed the back doors shut, locking them as well, then joined his squadmates at front. The truck's cargo side must have been soundproof, seeing as her cries where ignored indefinitely. The armored vehicle roared to life then started moving shortly after.

"How long has it been?" Ruby asked Lux while trying to sit up.

"A little-."

"Do you usually talk to yourself this much?" the sudden response from someone else startled her that she jerked her injured leg making her wince from the pain. When the pain subsided, she turned to see who had surprised her.

"O-oh, it's you umm hello," it was the boy with the ashen hair that spoke he was sitting in the corner shackled to the seat.

"Hello to you as well, Ms. Crazy," he said calmly.

"Hey! I'm not crazy!" the boy looked at her with a doubtful expression

"I don't know after you finished screaming, you started talking to yourself. You even asked yourself a question."

"No! I was talking to my uh my uh," Ruby trailed off, trying to figure how she was going to explain she was talking to a bird.

The boy watched her with a raised eyebrow.

"Where you talking to your imaginary friend or something? Because if you where that's fine, I won't judge."

"Wha!? No, you got it wrong! I wasn't talking to my imaginary friend I was talking to my bird...friend," as the words slipped out, Ruby realized that wasn't any better. The boy snorted, not believing her, "Surrrreeeee, if that's what you wanna call your imaginary friend, then that's fine."

"He's real! Look!" not wanting the boy to look at her like she should be in a stray jacket, Ruby reached into her shirt and pulled Lux out. "See! Look, he's real! I'm not crazy!" she held Lux out on the palm of her hand for the boy to see, but his expression grew more concerned.

"So you carry a small Grimm bird inside your clothes and talk to it? Are you sure your not crazy?"

"Ugh...When you say it like that, yea, it sort of does sound like I'm crazy," the boy chuckled bit leaning forward in his seat.

"So, what's the little birdie's name?" before she could say Lux spoke up.

"Lux is the name," the boy was shocked hearing the avian speak, though so was Ruby. She expected Lux to stay quiet, not introduce himself as if a talking bird was a common occurrence.

"W-Well, that's surprising never thought I'd see a talking nevermore. The name's Zack. I'd shake your wing, but I'm a bit restrained at the moment," his restraints kept his hands bound tightly to his seat.

No worries nice to meetcha," Lux then turned his head slightly to look at Ruby.

"..." after a few seconds of silence, Lux started nudging his head a bit like he was trying to tell her something.

"Is there something on my face?" the nevermore sighed and pecked her on the forehead.

"Ouch! what was that for?"

"Introduce yourself numbnuts!"

"O-oh, sorry, ah, my name's Ruby ah umm nice to meet you too?" Ruby mentally slapped herself for giving such an awkward introduction.

"I see you're an expert at introductions," Ruby meekly laughed at his sarcasm.

"Yeah, sorry, things just haven't been going very well for me."

"I can tell most people wouldn't be here if things were going good for them. So what's his name?" Zack pointed at the wolf resting behind her.

"That's Kindred."

"Does he talk too?" Zack asked

"Na that mutt's brain isn't very big, so I doubt it," the wolf hissed at the avian's insult.

"Hey, be nice, Lux."

"Yea, yea, I'll be nice," gliding off Ruby's palm Lux landed on Zack's leg then pecked at his hand. It surprised the boy; yet, he made no attempts to swat Lux away.

"Lux! That's Rude! You can't be pecking at people's hands!" Ruby reached to grab Lux and pull him away only for him to fly off landing on Zack's head.

"Sorry I couldn't help myself I haven't eaten since I fell asleep I'm starving."

" That doesn't mean it's okay to eat people's hands!" Lux rolled his eyes

"I wasn't eating his hand dummy I was eating what was coming out of his hand."

"What?" not understanding what he meant. Ruby looked at Zack's hands. "Oh! That's right. You also have dust coming out of your hands..." her voice trailed off as she realized the distance between Zack and herself had shrunk quite a bit. Their faces were no more than a few inches apart. Silver gazing into silver, something she'd never thought possible since her eye color was remarkably rare. Sure there was her mother, but she'd never gazed into Summer's eyes and felt speechless, nor blushing madly either. Ruby's mind was turning to mush; she wanted to say something anything to make it less awkward. Unfortunately, every time she opened her mouth, weird sounds would come out. Ruby cursed herself for being so socially inept, especially when it came to the opposite sex.

"Hey"

Ruby squeaked, hearing Zack's voice.

"Y-yesh?" she managed to say even if it was a bit fumbled.

"If you're going to keep staring at my face while making weird noises, I'm gonna have to start charging you," he said with a coy grin. It was just a joke, Ruby new that. Now all she needed to do is laugh it off and apologize for staring too much. Easy right? Yet the words that came out of her mouth betrayed her. "U-um h-how much?"

Zack was amazed at her response, although not as much as Ruby, the girl's head sank, burying her face in her hands. The young girl's eyes where practically swirling in confusion.

'How did I screw that up? Ah geez, he gave me a way out and somehow made it worse. He probably thinks I'm some kind of crazy pervert now. Wait if I laugh it off and say I was kidding right now I can probably fix what I messed up.'

The young girl raised her head to meet Zack's, who was still flustered from Ruby's response. Not able to force a laugh, she threw the idea out and went straight for the line that would fix this mess of awkwardness she created. "I was-" her line was cut short as the truck jumped from hitting a bump on the road causing the girl to shoot forward. Time slowed for Ruby as she was propelled forward towards Zack. His face growing closer by the millisecond. Ruby felt her heartbeat jump. She had seen enough anime to know where this was going. The famous '_accidental kiss._' Usually, the pair would form some type of unbreakable bond or go on a fantastic quest together full of danger, friendship, and a whole lot of ecchiness after the deed is done. At least that's what happened in the anime's she watched. However, she missed one crucial step for the '_accidental kiss' _trope to work. Ruby needed to kiss him on the lips, not headbutt him in the face.

Both were down for the count with a loud thud groaning in pain with Lux laughing as he perched onto of Kindred's head.

"Haha! The good ole headbutt to the face classic," Ruby slowly picked herself up and glared at the nevermore.

"Not funny," Ruby turned to look at Zack, who couldn't fall as he was shackled to the seat or even use his hands to rub his injuries like she could. He just rubbed his face against his shoulder.

'Are you okay, Zack?" she steeled herself, fully expecting him to lash out at her for headbutting him.

"Yea I'm good don't worry too much about it," Zack rubbed his nose one last time making sure he wasn't bleeding then looked up at a surprised Ruby.

"What's wrong? Am I bleeding somewhere?"

"N-no, I was just surprised, that's all."

"That you didn't kill me with your headbutt attack? Or that you didn't get that accidental kiss?" he said with a smirk. Ruby shook her head and hands denying the accusations even if one of them was correct; he didn't need to know that. "I was surprised you weren't yelling at me for headbutting you," Ruby held her breath, hoping she didn't make another mess.

"Oh. Na, I'm not gonna yell at you for that. Even if you did injury me, it would just heal in a minute or two," his tone was light, which was good since it meant there was no malice between Zack and her. She released the breath she was holding, finally relaxing.

"Yeah, I guess that's true. I was just worried that you would be bleeding for the whole day like I usually do when I get injured."

"Really? for the whole day?"

"...Yeah? is that weird?"

"It kind of is. If you're like me, then your injuries should be healing pretty quickly," Ruby realized why it was weird now semblance users had increased healing compared to an average person.

"Well, I just recently unlocked my semblance and stuff, so I'm still new to this," she said, meekly rubbing the back of her head.

"Ah. That makes sense. Then that means you probably don't know what I meant when I said '_you're like me_,'" Ruby was puzzled at the way he said it.

"What do you mean?" Zack took a second to think before speaking.

"Do you have any family that works as a huntsman?"

"Yeah, my dad and mom both work as a huntsman. Why?"

"Has either of them been shot in the leg before?"

"My dad has it was an accident if I recall. One of his students he was training when he used to be a teacher shot him on accident. Since it caught him by surprise, his aura cloak wasn't able to protect him."

"And how long did it take him to heal?" Ruby was perplexed by the question, did it _really _matter how long it took for her dad to heal.

"I think it was about a week. He stopped feeling pain after two weeks."

"Seems about right. What about the average person? How long would it take them to recover if they were shot in the same place as your dad?

"Ummm, I think maybe around three months to heal and six months for them to stop feeling pain," Ruby was beginning to lose her patience, what was the point of these questions.

"Alright now, what if I told you someone healed a similar injury to your dad's in less than a few hours," Ruby scoffed. "That's not possible aura may accelerate one's natural healing ability tenfold, but it has its limits. My dad, for example, he needed aura booster shots once a day and two surgeries to help him fully recover. Without that, his leg would never fully heal. A semblance user's accelerated healing is amazing sure; however, that's all it is. If you break your arm, it'll heal quickly, but never to 100% without a form of treatment involved," when Ruby finished her explanation, she heard a low clap coming from Zack.

"*clap* *clap* Bravo, you definitely know your stuff, Ruby."

"Nerd!" Lux yelled out.

"Quiet you!" Zack laughed as he watched Ruby try to catch the avian to no avail.

"Hmph!" after a few minutes, Ruby sat back down pouting.

"Awww don't pout Ruby. I'm sure Lux was just teasing you."

"*Sigh* I know... So you said you knew someone who healed a similar injury in a few hours or less who was it?" Zack grinned, pointing a finger at her.

"You."

"What?! That's absurd I've never been...shot..in..the...leg...," Ruby looked down at her leg that was injured at least it was supposed to be injured. The gunshot wound had miraculously healed.

"B-but, how?" she traced her fingers around where the wound was supposed to be. Her skin was smooth and creamy, just as it always was not even a scar was left. Ruby even pressed on the area yet felt no pain at all. It was like it never happened.

"Your probably thinking aura shouldn't have been able to heal this so fast and to this extent, right?" Ruby looked up at Zack, who wasn't fazed at her abnormal healing.

"It shouldn't be possible," she mumbled, still rubbing the skin for any signs of injury.

"And your right, it isn't possible at least not with aura," Ruby remained quiet, letting him continue.

"What if I told you that you don't have an aura."

"That's impossible," she said immediately. "Without aura, I wouldn't be able to use my semblance, and Lux and Kindred wouldn't have been born," Ruby wasn't entirely sure if that was accurate, but it was no mistake that her familiars where her semblance in some way. Aura acted as a form of energy source for semblances. Like a mage needed mana to cast a spell without aura, you couldn't use your semblance. There were no alternatives. Yet Zack's grinned widened like if he was about to prove her wrong.

"Dust," just a single word was said.

"Dust?" Ruby was lost what did dust have to do with this?

"Yep dust," he pointed at her hands that were still emitting the usual reddish dust. She raised her hands studying them for a bit; then, her eyes widened, finally realizing what he was saying.

"Are you saying dust _is _my source of power?"

"Bingo"

"That's...,' she wanted to say it impossible, but the facts were right in front of her. It explained the dust she emitted along with the glowing eyes and hair. Ruby could argue that her sister's eyes and hair glowed as well when she used her semblance; however, they stopped radiating once her semblance wore off. It wasn't permanent like hers. Kindred and Lux were both born _from_ dust as well. Lux even said he wanted to eat dust that emitted from Zack's hands. Yet there was one thing that didn't add up.

"If dust is the source of my power, then my accelerated healing still shouldn't have been able to heal my leg completely," Even if dust replaced aura as a source, it should still work somewhat the same. Right?

"Wrong dust is entirely different from an aura."

"How so?"

"Aura _enhances_ your body, making it faster, stronger, and durable. Right?" Ruby nodded. A few things were missing, but overall he was right aura enhances all your body's core attributes nothing more nothing less. "Now dust, on the other hand, doesn't improve anything. I'm sure you've noticed that you don't feel any different from before you awakened." she nodded again. Now she couldn't see her stats like in a game, but she was confident nothing had changed. She was still the same goober before and after.

"While it doesn't enhance anything dust, however, does change how our whole body works," Zack raised his hand, pointing at her leg. "What's missing from where you got shot?" Ruby wanted to say the wound itself was missing, but that couldn't be it. She looked around the area, but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary—just a hole in her orange uniform there wasn't any stains since it was brand new. Yet she felt like something was missing something significant that happens when you get shot or get injured in any form of way.

"...Ah! There's no blood!"

"Correct! If you cut an average person or a semblance user, they'll bleed blood, but not us. We do something different," Zack then began emitting more dust from his hand that swirled around it then started clumping together, forming a small ashen dagger made of dust. He grabbed it as it fell then handed it to Ruby, who had a look of amazement at what she just saw. "Now cut yourself and see what happens. It doesn't have to be deep just enough to bleed," Ruby flinched a bit.

"Wouldn't that hurt," she said softly, looking at the dagger in her hands. Zack rolled his eyes.

"Then cut my arm then," he stuck out his arm, showing her it was okay.

"What! No, I'm not going to cut you!" she protested, pulling the dagger away from him.

"Geez, Ruby, I'm not asking you to murder me. Just cut me a bit so I can show you what happens."

"O-okay, but tell me if it hurts," Zack rolled his eyes again, but lifted his sleeve, gesturing her to do it. Ruby reluctantly angled the dagger, so only the blade's tip was touching his skin. Then with a quick motion, she pulled it across a short distance before pulling away. Ruby watched as the cut on his arm opened, fully expecting to see a drizzle of blood. She was surprised to see dust flow out gently. Not in liquid form either it was the same dust that emitted from his hands. The dust only flowed out for a few seconds before the cut healed itself.

"That's-"

"Pretty cool, right?" Ruby nodded. Aside from the fact she cut someone seeing dust come out instead of blood was pretty cool. It explained the lack of blood on her clothes and on the floor of the truck.

"Now I don't know how much dust has changed in our bodies, but I do know our healing isn't just accelerated as aura would do for us. I...I've... well let's just say a while back I was heavily injured to the point that even if I had the best aura in all of Remnant, I wouldn't have been able to survive. Yet I'm still alive and kicking. So whatever dust does for us is entirely different from what aura would do for us," Ruby let the information sink in first before she asked her question.

"How is this even possible having dust as a source instead of aura?"

"I don't honestly know. Everyone I have told has either just ignored or told me I'm crazy. If anything I completely lucked out you're like me or else you'd probably call me crazy too," Ruby couldn't deny that. If she had been normal, she too would just call him crazy.

"Is there anything else you've been able to find out?"

"Yeah, there is one more thing we're able to-" his words word cut short as the vehicle came to a halt.

"Looks like we're here where ever we are," he said. There weren't any windows, so they couldn't see outside. The truck's engine was shut off, seeing as they couldn't feel any vibrations.

"Ruby, sit over there and keep your hands where they can see them," She nodded and sat on the opposite side of the truck with Kindred laying near her feet.

"Lux hide in my shirt they don't know you're here," stretching out her collar, the avian crawled inside.

"I'm not sure what's gonna happen, but try to stay near me and don't do anything that would get you shot, okay?"

"Okay," Ruby wasn't sure how Zack looked so calm when she, on the other hand, was nervous and scared. The sound of a key jiggling could be heard then the cargo doors opened up, blinding her with bright lights.

**-Zack-**

When Zack's eyes adjusted, he noticed the same masked men from before stepping inside. They had their weapons drawn; however, they were only aiming at Ruby and her familiar who weren't shackled or restrained like he was. They approached her, slowly instructing her to keep her hands where they could see them, which she followed. Zack was thankful Ruby wasn't like the other inmates he was with there was no doubt in his mind they would've started spewing insults then attacked one of the masked men. Potentially getting him or both of them shot. He watched as they shackled Ruby with the same restraints as himself. They probably didn't do so before since they assumed with her injured leg she wouldn't be able to do anything. Zack noticed two of the masked men looking at Ruby's leg, presumably wondering how it's already healed.

"You said you shot the kid, right?"

"Yeah, she was crying and everything. You can even see the bullet hole on her uniform."

"Well, she looks fine."

"Screw it; I'm not going to worry about it means less paperwork we gotta fill out."

"I hear that. Now come on, let's take them inside the head overseer wants to see them right away."

"Ugh, that lady creeps me the hell out."

"The quicker we take them, the faster we can leave now come on you take the girl you shot, and I'll take the boy," his partner nodded then walked towards Ruby while the other stepped towards him.

"Alright, kid Ima unhook you from the seat, though no funny business or you get to taste lead like your friend over there did. Got it?" Zack nodded. He was unhooked then led outside of the cargo truck. Zack looked around once he was out. They were in some sort of hanger except there were no planes, only military-grade vehicles of different sizes and models spread about, with every truck having a team of masked men. He looked towards the open gates to see nothing, only darkness.

*Smack*

"Stop looking around like some tourist and walk," Zack wanted to curse at him that he could have just told him to walk instead of hitting him but held it back. He started walking forward but glanced behind him to see if Ruby was behind him.

'At least they aren't separating us yet,' Ruby was following behind them with the wolf sticking close to her. They walked to the very back of the hanger to a lift that was large enough to hold a large group of people. Another set of masked men guarded the lift. The masked men put the young duo in the center of the elevator while they surrounded them. One of them pressed a button making the lift descend. They went down quite a bit before reaching the bottom. The sub-level was much different from the top level. It seemed to resemble a hospital of sorts with personal to match. People in typical hospital attire zoomed across the place, entering and leaving rooms. No one seemed to have time to spare them a look as they walked down the middle. The hospital seemed high-class as Zack noticed all doors where electronic sliding doors with keycard's as keys. The equipment outside of the rooms all looked pretty expensive. Nothing looked unmaintained or filthy in any way. He wasn't able to peek inside as there were no windows for him to see in the rooms, but he assumed they were offices for the staff. They eventually reached another elevator that was a regular size. The group entered, again with Ruby and Zack in the middle. They descended deeper though this time Zack could see how deep.

'We're going to the 10th floor, which is the deepest it goes. I wonder what the other floors have.'

The doors opened when they reached there chosen floor revealing an empty lobby that had three connecting hallways. They took the left hallway that led them to a large gate labeled A1. They stopped in front of the entrance and waited as one of the men talked into his radio.

"Head Overseer, we've brought them as you asked."

"..."

"Understood," shutting his radio off, the man walked towards Zack and removed his restraints. Then did the same for Ruby; he even gave Ruby permission tp remove the muffler Kindred was wearing on his mouth as well as the gloves on his paws. The gate then made a loud beeping noise before opening up real slowly, unveiling a vast room.

"Alright in you go," hesitantly, they walked inside Zack scanning his surroundings Ruby doing the same thing. The gate beeped loudly again, which made them turn to see the gate slowly closing on them. Neither attempted to go back as it probably wouldn't end well.

"This place looks like an arena," Zack turned to Ruby.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"I went to see my dad compete once, and the arena looked almost exactly like this. There's even a monitor up there that probably tells you how much aura you have left," Zack looked up to where she was pointing; sure enough, there was a monitor. There weren't any seats for spectators, only cameras spread about at every corner.

"Zack, I think this is some sort of closed arena."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," Zack felt himself get a bit nervous; Ruby was probably even more nervous than before after all arenas are where people fight. Question is what are they fighting against?

"_Hello Children," _both looked up to see a booth slide down from the center roof of the arena. Inside was a female doctor Zack couldn't make any details as she was a good distance away.

"_Now you are probably wondering what you are doing here, but fear not, I will explain everything shortly. All I need you to do first is survive."_

"What!?" both said in unison. Zack was about to yell 'survive what,' but then a spot on the arena started opening, revealing a pool of black ooze. It bubbled excessively; then something shot out landing not that far from them with a loud _splat._ The thing that splatted on the floor was starting to twitch and shake. Zack had no idea what was happening. He turned to Ruby to see if she had any idea. Only to see her face had paled as if she had seen a ghost.

"Ruby, do you know what that is?" Ruby gulped and spoke in a heavy tone.

"It's a Grimm spawn."

"Your kidding, right?" she shook her head.

"Well, shit, do you know what type of Grimm it spawns," Zack then heard an awful growling noise that sent chills down his spine. He turned to see a bear-like Grimm with bone armor plating scattered throughout its body.

"Nevermind, Ruby I found out."

An Usra

* * *

**Stay healthy everyone.**


End file.
